A Fortunate Twist of Fate
by Monkey and Cookee
Summary: AU. Jehu and Haou go to a shrine to find out who their red string of fate is attached to only to find out that they're soul mates! Having gotten off to a rough start, will they fall in love or will they prove fate wrong? DarkSpiritshipping -M.
1. Shock

**Monkey: I own nothing.**

**This is dedicated to Punk rock girl 101. Hope you like it!**

* * *

It began as any other normal day. The sun was beginning to set, the warm air of the day was getting chilly and two people were currently trying to kill each other at the entrance to a shrine.

"Move!"

"Out of my way!"

Ah, better yet, all hell had broken loose.

The shrine was known in their area for having a priest who could see one's red string of fate and tell them who they're attached to. Anyone who came had to pray and wait for the priest to show up at twilight. Although most were hesitant of this ability at first, they were quick to believe him once he proved that he was never wrong.

So now, two boys had gotten roped into testing their luck to see who their (un)lucky soul mates were.

And those same two were trying to shove their way through the entrance.

"I was here first!" one said.

"No, I was!" the other said.

It was no surprise when the two got into a fist fight.

Stupid small entrance not big enough for two people who were both a little on the pissed off side to enter at the same time.

The two were well into the fight when the priest of the shrine, Nakadai, returned to his sanctuary.

He stopped short when he saw the two and watched them clash. They didn't notice him watch them in curiosity. At first they remained standing, but then one of them shoved the other onto the ground and they began going at it there. It wasn't until Nakadai cleared his throat that the two stopped in mid punch and looked up at him.

"Now, is there really a reason the two of you are so eager to throw punches?" Nakadai asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "Surely you must realize that there is no need for violence."

The two stared at him, then shook out of their confusion when they remembered he was a priest. Slowly, the one on top stood up and gave the other room to get up as well. They moved so they were a few feet away from each other, knowing that if they got too close, they'd fight again. They watched the priest walk passed them.

"Have the two of you come to discover who your soul mates are?" Nakadai asked, lowering his head and clasping his hands together as he began a silent prayer.

"… Yes," the two reluctantly answered.

Finishing his prayer, Nakadai nodded. "Very well, I'll give you some time to let off some steam."

The two boys looked at each other, each raising a fist.

"_Not _by fighting." He didn't even look back.

"… Alright." The two gave each other one final glare before going to opposite sides of the shrine and kneeling down.

Glowing gold eyes closed as the owner thought about why he was here.

---

"Haou, you're nearly eighteen," his mother, Seira, spoke one morning last week.

The two-toned brunette sat across the table from her. "Yes, I know. Is something wrong?"

Seira stared at him deeply. Haou found himself staring into a pair of eyes identical to his. He tried to pass off a look of indifference, but when his mother was involved, he knew he couldn't fake it.

"You need a girlfriend," she deadpanned.

He stared at her with mild confusion. He closed his eyes and took a drink of the coffee in his hands. "I need no such thing."

"Fine then, a boyfriend."

Haou nearly choked on his coffee, his eyes opening wide. "Mom!"

She rolled her eyes at him. "You need _someone_. I don't care whether it's a boy or girl, I just want you to be happy."

Haou sighed. "I am happy."

His mother stared at him long and hard, her arms over her chest. "That's a lie."

"No it isn't."

"Haou."

"Yes?"

"You were five the last time you smiled."

Haou put his coffee down. "Mom, I don't think you needed to point that out." _She kept track? I mean, there's no way that's true, I'm sure I've smiled sometime in my life before after that. _"No way."

"Yes way."

"Birthday parties?"

"Nope, you spend the whole day sleeping."

"Summer break?"

"You spend the whole time complaining about how hot it is."

"Holidays?"

"You hate the holidays."

"…"

Seira sighed. "One of these days I want you to go to the shrine down by the park. You don't need to find out who, I just want you to at least find out if you'll have someone in your future."

Haou looked at her and saw how much it would mean to her. He sighed heavily. "… Alright. I'll go this weekend."

---

_I shouldn't have come. _Haou opened his eyes and looked at the bluenette on the other side. The brunette rubbed his jaw a bit. _Man, that last punch really hurt. I hope I don't go back with a bruise or something._

What he found hard to believe was how he had felt drawn to the other; he had never fought with a complete stranger before.

Amber eyes glowed as the owner thought about the reason he was there.

---

"Jehu! Wake up!" a female yelled in the morning.

The bluenette groaned. "Mom," he whined, "bring down the volume some, I've got a killer headache."

His mother, Reiko, walked into his room. She saw him lying on his stomach on his bed with no intention of moving from that comfortable place. She shook her head and placed her hands on her hips. "Jehu, you better be up when I get to one."

If Jehu's head didn't hurt so much, he would've laughed. "Come on, I'm eighteen. That doesn't scare me anymore."

"Three…"

Jehu buried his face deeper into his pillow.

"Two…"

He didn't move.

"… One."

And Jehu suddenly felt his mother pulling him up by his ear.

"Ow ow ow! Mom!"

Reiko smirked, not yet releasing her son. "That'll teach you not to fear the countdown!"

"Mom!" Jehu whined, his hands on his mom's, trying to get her to let go of him. "Can't I just go through my hangover in peace??"

"Were you out partying all night again?" Reiko asked, pulling just a little harder. Jehu was afraid she'd pull his ear out.

"No!"

"Jehu."

"I came home at three! I wasn't out all night!"

Grudgingly, she released him. Jehu rubbed his ear carefully, figuring it to be red already.

"Jehu," Reiko began.

The bluenette groaned. "You're going to lecture me? Haven't you already tortured me enough??"

The purplette rolled her eyes. "I'm not going to lecture you. I'll make a deal with you."

Jehu looked at her suspiciously. "…Go on."

"If you go find out if you have a soul mate, I'll give you a freebie."

"A soul mate? Why do you want me to find that out?"

"Because I'm curious to see if there is someone in the world who will be able to put up with you and your sorry ass."

Jehu stared at his mom and raised a brow. Ignoring the last part, he asked, "Alright, so a freebie of what?"

"I'll let you have one hangover in peace."

Tempting.

Jehu pondered this offer for a bit. If she wasn't purposely yelling at him, she'd dump cold water on him while he slept, play unbelievably loud music all day, burn something to freak him out or on the bad days, he would wake up hanging over a pool filled with piranhas. It was still a mystery to him where she got them from.

"… Fine. I'll go tomorrow. Now can I please go back to sleep??"

"Nope! The freebie comes after going! You go to sleep now and this time, you'll be hanging over crocodiles."

She'd never seen him run out of there so fast in her life.

---

_I should've known things would go badly if that she-devil asked me to come here. _Jehu stared at the priest. _I wonder if he's in on it too_. He glanced at the two-toned brunette. _I feel bad about fighting with him, it's not his fault I have another hangover. I'll apologize at the end of this._

Jehu blinked. He never apologized! Or felt bad for fighting with others! _I bet that she-devil put something in my coffee this morning._

Nakadai finished his final prayer and turned to look at the two. He stared at them intently, then looked down at their pinkies. "Interesting."

Jehu and Haou looked confused. "What?"

"You two came to the shrine to find out who your soul mates are and yet, you've already found them." He walked towards them and reached out for something. He made a fist, turned his hand around and opened his fist.

Jehu and Haou paled.

There, in his hand was a red glowing string connecting their pinkies together.

Haou and Jehu looked up at each other, glowing eyes locking.

… _Oh I really hate my life_, Haou thought.

… _I think today's hangover just got worse, _Jehu thought.

Their last thought was: _I'm gay?!_

Then the two proceeded to simultaneously passing out.

Nakadai blinked and released the string, it disappearing soon after. "I guess they didn't find it so interesting…"

* * *

**Monkey: Well, I hope that didn't turn out so bad. n.n" And if the string is actually on some other finger, I'll change it later. xP**

Cookee: You're writing yaoi to distract yourself?

**Monkey: That and I told Punk rock girl 101 that I'd have this out by my birthday which you know is long gone, so I figured I'd put it up now. u.u Sorry about that Punk rock girl 101! n.n**

Cookee: Wasn't this supposed to be a one shot? o.o

**Monkey: It was, but I'm having fun with it, so I'll make it a little longer x3**

Cookee: Alright. Hope you guys liked it! See you later!


	2. Second Meeting

**Monkey: Here's the second chapter! Sorry it's so long, it was actually supposed to be a lot longer, but I decided to split the chapter into two so it wouldn't seem like so much to read xD**

**Hope you like it!**

* * *

Jehu awoke with a groan. "Oh God, I just had the weirdest dream ever…"

His amber eyes blinked several times as he took in his surroundings. He was in his room! That meant it was just a dream!

He nearly screamed when he saw his mom staring at him intently from the edge of his bed.

Reiko's serious demeanor broke out into a grin. "You're awake! So, tell me everything! What's his name? Is he cute? Did you two kiss? Did you have some naughty dreams about him??"

"Mom!" Jehu sat up in shock so fast his world spun a bit. "What the _hell _are you talking about?!" Reiko frowned. She crossed her legs and put her hands on her knee. Maybe Jehu hit his head when he passed out. "What do you mean what am I talking about? Your soul mate of course!"

Jehu stared at her. He blinked. His hands gripped his sheet tightly and it suddenly hit him. "… It wasn't a dream?!"

Reiko rolled her amber eyes. She knew all those drinking parties would soon start messing with his brain. It was either that or maybe him waking up in terrifying and dangerous situations because of her that made him lose some brain cells. She blamed the former. "Of course it wasn't a dream! I had to go to the shrine and take your passed out ass home! Unfortunately by the time I got there, your soul mate was gone, but Nakadai told me what happened. Oh, and he wishes you two luck."

"Luck? I find out I'm gay and all he does is wish me luck?! What kind of priest is he?!"

"The kind that gave you his blessings you ungrateful ass!" Reiko shook her head. Really, his soul mate was going to have his hands full with Jehu. She tucked her purple bangs behind her ears and looked at her son seriously. "Jehu, don't screw this up."

Jehu was about to ask what she meant when she suddenly jumped off his bed, grabbed his backpack and threw it at him.

"Get your lazy ass up! It's time for school!" She grinned.

"Huh??" Jehu searched for his phone. Where was it?? "But it's Sunday!"

"No it isn't! it's Monday morning! You slept all of Sunday away! I was starting to get worried! I mean, what a way to go! Fainting at the shrine!"

"I didn't faint! I passed out!" Jehu shot.

Reiko crossed her arms over her chest and watched her son run around his room trying to get dressed as he freaked out.

He grabbed a shirt. "Aw man! I have an essay due today that I planned to do yesterday!" He cursed when he saw he'd put on his shirt backwards. He tried again. "If I'm late to first period again, Amuro-sensei is going to kick my ass!"

His mom laughed as she saw him trip over some books. If anything, his soul mate would probably have as much fun watching him freak out as she did.

"Shit! I'm going to be late!" Jehu ran into his walk-in closet and closed the door. He came out a few seconds later wearing a pair of jeans and shoes. He tripped over his phone, picked it up, checked to make sure it was alive and put it in his pocket. "And damn I didn't do _any _of my homework! My teachers will kill me!"

He raced to the bathroom and came out a couple minutes later, teeth brushed and now fully awake.

Maybe Reiko would tell him that she had done his homework for him. It had been hell to find out what his homework was since he never wrote any of it down, but damn it, she had her ways. Maybe she should tell him…

Jehu raced passed her and ran down the stairs only to trip halfway down them and fall down the rest of the stairs, a stream of curses accompanying his fall.

Reiko burst out laughing. Then again, maybe she wouldn't tell him. She waited until he was out the door to walk out of his room and down the stairs. She stopped halfway down the steps and slammed the side of her fist on the wall.

"Damn it! I didn't even get his name!"

---

Like Jehu, Haou had woken up with a groan.

"Wow, sleepyhead. A whole day. Finding out you're gay can't be _that _bad, can it?" Seira greeted with a smile, standing by his bed.

Haou looked around. "I'm in my room?"

Seira nodded. "He's cute ya know."

Haou racked his brain to find out what was the last thing he remembered. He closed his eyes tightly as he did.

His golden eyes snapped open. "Oh my God! My soul mate's a guy!"

"A cute guy," Seira corrected.

"A _guy_! Mom, do you realize what this means?!"

"That I shouldn't expect any grandkids and you better hurry up and get your ass to school?" Seira blinked. It was rare to see Haou get this worked up, especially in the morning. It was… pretty damn funny. His soul mate was sure to get a laugh or two from being with Haou.

"Exactly! I can't be gay! I just… can't! Wait, grandkids? What the hell?" Haou pinched the bridge of his nose. And right on cue, his migraine decided to pop up and screw with him. "School? It's the weekend."

Seira laughed. "Come on Haou, you're not exactly the manliest man out there. I had a feeling you were gay before your soul mate mishap. And it's Monday."

Haou covered his eyes with his hand. He dragged his hand down and groaned. "You told me my life would be better after I find my soul mate."

Seira nodded as she walked to the front door and put together Haou's backpack. She went to his closet and pulled out an outfit for him.

"You were wrong!" Haou pointed an accusing finger at the black haired woman. "It's gotten worse!"

His mother rolled her eyes and threw a black shirt at Haou's face. "Guess again." She looked closely at him. "Just one day with him, and already you're different."

Haou took off his red shirt and put on the black one. "What? How?"

She smirked. "You're showing emotion for one."

The senior jumped out of bed and walked by his mother, getting the rest of his clothes. He went into the bathroom, then came out a couple minutes later with pants and shoes on.

"Oh please."

Seira handed him his backpack and crossed her arms over her chest. "For another, you've said more words in ten minutes than you normally do in a week!"

"You're exaggerating." Haou checked to make sure all his homework was in there.

"About sixty words so far and counting. In a day, you normally say around ten."

Haou thought back to his meeting with his soul mate at the shrine. They'd fought for crying out loud! There's no way that alone would be enough to change him! Not to mention, his soul mate was a guy!!

"I see potential!" Seira clapped her hands happily as she and Haou walked down the stairs.

Haou sighed. "No, no you don't."

"Ooh, even attitude? Your soul mate must've really affected you! What's his name??"

Haou opened the door. "Out of luck on that one. I never got his name." He walked out and closed the door behind him.

Seira pouted. "He wouldn't get his name just to spite me!"

Outside, Haou waited a moment leaning against the door before leaving. _It's not like anything is going to happen, right?_

---

First and second period were pretty much a blur.

At least he hadn't been late to first period and it had been funny when he explained to Amuro-sensei why he was eating a donut in class. "Well, it began when I was one my way to school. I thought about your class and I got sick. So I bought some donuts. Want one?"

He received no detention in exchange for two donuts.

Seemed like a fair trade.

Jehu just barely managed to turn in his homework (he mentally thanked his mother for giving him a hand on the homework he didn't do) and get to his seat in his second period before he was completely out of it.

All of his thoughts seemed to circle around his supposed soul mate.

_I didn't even get his name. _Jehu thought.

During both classes, he had his notebook out and was unknowingly drawing on a blank sheet instead of blindly copying the notes his teachers had had on their boards like the rest of his classmates did.

It wasn't until the middle of his second period that Jehu realized he had drawn a picture of his soul mate.

The bluenette stared at it. He was good at drawing and he knew it, but to draw _him?_

"Alright class," Yasano-sensei spoke, erasing all the notes on the board. "Time for the pop quiz. And yes, it's open note."

The rest of the class sans Jehu had relief show on their face.

_Crap_! Jehu thought, hurriedly opening up his notebook and flipping through it, hoping there was _something _that could help him.

Drawings of all sorts stared back at him. Drawings of Yasano-sensei having something happen to him so he couldn't teach. Drawings of his mom hanging over a pool of piranhas. Jehu looked at those closely. It looks like his mom had seen them because there was a sticky note on those pictures that said, "I'm gonna kick your ass, Jehu."

And then there were just some doodles and that picture of his soul mate.

Jehu sighed as he looked at the first problem. _Rewrite sin^4x as a sum of first powers of the cosines of multiple angles._

It was going to be a long test…

---

Haou slept away his first two classes. He had forgotten to take an aspirin before leaving his house and his head was killing him.

His teachers didn't mind. They had both set up a review day for the tests they had tomorrow. It was up to Haou what he wanted to do during that time.

Haou dreamt he was walking over an old, unsafe bridge.

He carefully walked across, making it to the halfway point before a strong wind shook up the rope bridge. Haou closed his eyes and held on to the rope on the sides of the bridge.

Once the wind died down a bit, Haou continued on.

Why was he walking on that bridge? He didn't know. He did know that he was almost there.

But just as he was a few feet from the end of the bridge, the ropes snapped.

Haou felt the bridge fall from under him but didn't scream. He felt a hand grab his and keep him from falling.

The brunette looked up as his savior pulled him to safety. He couldn't make out the face.

Once he was on firm ground, Haou looked up and his gold eyes widened. The bluenette in front of him smiled.

"You're…"

Haou woke up with the sound of the bell.

When he got to his next class, he fell asleep again.

This time he dreamt he was at a masquerade ball. He looked down. Thankfully he wasn't wearing a dress.

A soft chime made the music stop.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked up. It was time.

No one said anything as they all suddenly started moving again, everyone seeming to have understood what the bell meant.

Even Haou found himself moving around the ball room, searching for something like everyone was.

Searching for someone.

Another chime was heard and everyone hurried.

Time was running out.

Haou looked around. He didn't recognize anyone, much less with the masks.

The brunette quickly scanned the crows. Where was he?

Wait, he who?

A hand took his and made him turn around. Haou stared up at the person who reached out to gently take off his mask.

Haou felt exposed with his mask gone but lifted his hands up to remove the other's mask as well.

A third chime was heard and Haou let a small gasp escape him.

"It's you… you're…"

This time Haou didn't wait for the bell to wake him up. He stayed quiet and gathered his things.

Tokumo-sensei watched him leave the room without saying a word. She opened her mouth to say something when the door opened.

"I'll be in the nurse's office." Haou stated.

Tokumo-sensei closed her mouth and nodded.

It was best not to argue with him.

---

Jehu yawned as he made his way to his third period, the nurse's office as her student aide.

"Mornin'," Jehu greeted lazily, stopping under the threshold of Mieko-san's mini office inside the bigger office.

Mieko-san was playing solitaire on her laptop. She didn't even look up at him. "Someone's sleeping over there today, so don't be such an ass, Jehu."

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah."

He stepped back and walked into the bigger office. He saw someone was sleeping behind the curtain.

The bluenette stretched a bit then laid down on one of the other beds. He didn't bother to look behind the curtain.

A shuffling sound caught Jehu's attention.

Jehu sat up and saw the person behind the curtain do the same.

"Do you need something?" Jehu asked, standing up as he saw the silhouette hold his head.

"Aspirin or something, please," the other replied.

Jehu nodded and walked to the cabinet by Mieko-san's office. He searched around.

_Hmm… that voice sounds familiar_… Jehu thought as he picked up a bottle without really paying attention.

He walked back to the curtain and hesitated to pull it back.

When he did, no one spoke. Until…

"YOU!!!" they pointed at each other in shock.

Gold and amber eyes locked.

The brunette groaned and fell back on the bed. "My migraine just got worse."

The bluenette tossed him the pills.

The other caught it and read the label, then looked back up at him and threw the bottle at him.

"Hey! What was that for??"

"Cyanide pills. You're trying to kill me!" "… Oops."

"Oops? What if I hadn't checked the label?! You're a crappy soul mate!"

"And you're a whiny one! God, it was just a little mistake!"

The bluenette turned around and bumped into a pissed Mieko-san.

"Jehu! What'd I say about being an ass?!" She looked at the senior on the bed. "I'm sorry Haou, this is unfortunately my student aide."

"Don't get mad at me! Why the hell do you have cyanide pills in here anyway?? Who are you trying to kill?!"

"You, you pain in the ass!" Mieko-san threw a stapler at his head but luckily he dodged it.

Mieko-san 'hmphed' then went back to her office as Jehu mumbled a few swear words and got some aspirin after checking the label.

At least they now knew each other's names.

There was a period of awkward silence as Jehu gave Haou the pills and some water. He took the pills and gave the bottle and glass back to the bluenette.

Haou was about to open his mouth to speak up when Jehu beat him to it.

"Look, stop giving me all these dirty looks. Like it or not, we're soul mates."

Haou glared.

"… Love is blind?"

"Love's a bitch to have paired us up together!"

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Exactly what I meant! I don't want someone like you as my soul mate!"

"You don't even know me! And like you're any better!"

Haou was going to retort, but a throbbing pain in his head stopped him. His hands flew to his head. "Ugh…"

Jehu bit his lip as he watched him in pain. The pills don't work instantly, and it seemed like his migraine was awful.

"Look Haou—"

"Shush! Just… stay quiet for a while."

The bluenette did so but decided to get on Haou's bed and got close to him.

"What are you—"

Jehu carefully wrapped his arms around the brunette and pulled him close. The smaller senior struggled against him.

"Hey! Let me go!"

He didn't loosen his grip.

"Calm down," was whispered into Haou's ear.

The struggling stopped. For some reason, he did as he was told, feeling himself relax in the other's arms.

"Distraction works for me when I have hangovers," Jehu murmured. _Which explains why my lovely mother gets the piranhas, crocodiles, fires, hanging me out of a 50-story building… _"Tell me if it works for you."

After a moment of silence, Haou spoke. "Why are you ok with this? Why aren't you freaking out?"

Jehu had a feeling the brunette wasn't talking about the hug they were in. He lifted up Haou a bit and set him on his lap so the smaller senior could be more comfortable. Haou blushed and bit back a comment, deciding to just stay calm.

The bluenette thought for a bit before replying, "I guess it's because I was… happy to know I'd have a future with someone, and I didn't care if they were a boy or a girl." _Plus, at the rate my mother is going, I wasn't sure I'd even _have _a future…_

The brunette moved his golden gaze around the room, trying to figure out what to say to that. He had been so against the idea of having a boyfriend and yet he wasn't struggling against him and he seemed pretty content in the other's lap. Why was that?

"I didn't even know I was gay until this weekend." Haou mumbled, thinking it was low enough for the other not to hear.

The brunette felt Jehu's body move a bit along the rhythm of his chuckling. He frowned. "Don't laugh."

Jehu's laughter died down but left a smile. "It seems you and I are more alike than we thought."

Haou assumed that meant he hadn't (or had thought he did) known his sexuality either.

"Listen, you want to hang out during lunch today?"

Haou glanced up at the clock on the wall next to them. Third period was almost over.

"Why?"

Jehu shrugged. "It'll give us a chance to get to know each other. And if it's really as bad as you think, then Fate can kiss our asses."

"… Alright." The bell rang and Haou was almost reluctant to leave Jehu's arms.

Jehu didn't notice and simply let him go. He smirked. "Did it work?"

Haou stood up and looked back at the bluenette who jumped off the bed and grabbed his backpack. "Huh?" He picked up his own backpack and his textbooks.

Jehu poked Haou's forehead.

He blinked a couple times. "Hey, my headache's gone."

He received a nod. "See you after fourth in front of the six hundred hallway."

The two walked out of the nurse's office, Jehu holding the door open for Haou.

A glare was sent his way while Jehu just kept that smirk on his face.

_Boys_, Mieko-san thought with a shake of her head. She sighed and pulled out her rolling chair from under the desk. She had been watching them for the last few minutes from under the threshold, neither noticing her. She thought they were cute, but didn't say anything thinking they would split when they saw her.

With a crack of her knuckles, she sat down and began another game of solitaire.

* * *

**Monkey: Hope you guys liked it! So, how many of you think that these two are going to get screwed over by Fate? Or that they'll come out fine in the end? xD It could go either way right now, but luckily I'll put up the next chapter along with this one so as not to leave you guys hanging so much! xD**


	3. Chance

**Monkey: And here's the next chapter! **

**Hope you guys like it!**

* * *

Lunchtime rolled around and Haou nearly smacked himself.

_What was I thinking? I'm going on a mini date with my soul mate… No! It's not a date! I refuse to recognize it as a date because then that means I'd be accepting Jehu as my soul mate!_

The bell rang, shaking Haou out of his thoughts.

_Damn you, Love! And Fate! And whoever else is against me!_

Gathering his books and backpack, he walked out of the room with a small sigh, hoping he'd be able to get out of his date.

_Meeting! Not a date! Plus it's at school! _Before he knew it, he was downstairs standing in front of the six hundred hallways out in the quad. _Who has a date at school?!_

"Hey Haou," Jehu greeted. "Ready to go on your first date with me?"

"Gahh!!" Haou exclaimed in shock.

Jehu stepped back, offended. "Geez, I didn't think it was going to be that bad."

Haou groaned and shook his head. Too late to turn back now.

"Haou, you don't have to do this if you don't want to." Jehu spoke with a raised brow. "It's not like I'm keeping you here at gunpoint."

"Why isn't this affecting you as much as it is me?"

"It is. Well, at least was. I passed out at the shrine too, remember?"

Gold eyes stared at amber ones. _At least he's taken my feelings into consideration._

Hold up.

_Feelings? Since when do I have those?! I sound like some girl! I'm pathetic. Stupid red string of fate crap._

…

_Oh my god, my mom was right, he really has changed me. Oh for the love of…_

"Haou?"

The aforementioned brunette had been so caught up in his chaotic inner thoughts that he hadn't even noticed Jehu had stepped closer to him, enough so that their faces were only a couple inches apart.

"Ah!" Haou jumped back and hid behind a pole, pressing his back up against it. He felt his cheeks getting warmer and he closed his eyes tightly.

"Haou, are you alright?"

He let himself fall to a sitting position.

_I wasn't blushing! It's merely hot outside! _

But he knew that was a lie.

_Oh this is too much for me._

He felt a hand on his forehead and his eyes quickly opened and looked up. He gazed into Jehu's concerned eyes.

Haou smacked his hand away.

Jehu stared at him with a blank face before sighing and standing up.

"Alright, fine. I give up." He raked a hand through his dark blue locks and stared down at Haou. "I tried."

Haou blinked. What? That was it?

"Tell Fate she can kiss my ass." Jehu turned around and walked away, giving the brunette a small wave.

It came as a surprise to both of them when Jehu suddenly stopped, feeling someone tugging at the back of his shirt.

"I… I never wanted this," Haou began, not letting go of the black shirt. Exhumed no attempts to leave and waited patiently for Haou to continue. "I'll admit, I'm stubborn so I don't know when I'll be able to come to terms with this but… for some reason, I want to try one more time…" _Can we?_

Haou saw a flash of red around his hand, but he blinked and it disappeared. He briefly wondered if that had been the red string of fate, then dismissed the thought when he remembered he couldn't see the string.

Jehu hesitated for a moment. "Once more. I'll go with you to your friends for a few minutes, then we'll go to mine, so we can see how the other is around them. Deal?"

"Deal."

Haou let go of the other's sleeve and Jehu turned to face him.

"Geez, you really are indecisive."

He was given a frown.

Jehu put his arms up in defense. "Relax, it's not like I don't have my faults either."

Haou rolled his eyes and made his way over to his friends.

A blonde girl, a raven boy and a brunette boy. He waved to them.

"Hey guys, this is Jehu. Jehu, this is Manjyome, Fubuki and—"

Jehu cut him off and smirked. "Asuka, do you believe in love at first sight?"

Asuka took a sip of her strawberry smoothie and smiled. "Nope."

"Then let me come back."

The small group of friends chuckled a bit. Asuka was used to this, since every time those two spent more than a few days without seeing each other, he'd greet her with a pick up line.

They both knew Jehu wasn't serious, and since the other two didn't know him but Asuka didn't slap him, they assumed he was kidding too.

His soul mate however, didn't see that.

Jehu turned to look at him and raised a brow, his smirk fading. "What?"

Haou stayed silent.

_Oh, he's jealous, _Jehu thought. "Oh come on, _now _you're into it?"

Manjyome raised a brow. "You guys together?"

"No." Haou said at the same time Jehu replied, "Yes."

They looked at each other. They looked back at the three.

"Yes," Haou said when Jehu spoke, "No."

Fubuki and Asuka laughed.

Manjyome rolled his eyes. They could at least get their stories right. "Whatever, always knew you swung the other way, Haou."

"Forget it, let's go to your friends," Haou said after the staring contest, breaking away first, never having heard Manjyome.

"Fine."

Haou waved to his friends while Jehu just said a, "See ya," and led the way.

"Haou, relax, will you? I was only kidding," Jehu tried.

"I know that."

"Then why are you jealous?"

"I'm not jealous!"

_He's so jealous. And cute. _Jehu blinked. Cute? He took a closer look at Haou as they made their way across the quad. That pout, those confused golden eyes and that very faint blush across his cheeks. _Yep. Definitely cute_.

"What?" Haou asked when he noticed he was being stared at.

"Nothing."

They met up with Jehu's friends, Ryo, Yusuke and Edo.

"Edo."

"Haou."

"Ryo and Yusuke," Jehu finished off. "What's up?"

"What are you doing with him?" Edo asked, taking a sip of his strawberry ramune.

Haou narrowed his eyes. "Shut up."

Ryo rolled his eyes and rested his chin on the palm of his hand, looking bored. "Hey Jehu. Is he your boyfriend?"

Jehu looked at him and stayed silent. He really didn't know what to reply. He instead turned to Edo and Haou who were locked in a staring contest.

Yusuke shook his head and smacked the back of Edo's head. "Stop glaring at Jehu's boyfriend."

"What?" Jehu, Haou and Edo all said, the latter rubbing the back of his head.

"Boyfriend?! You chose him of all people to be your boyfriend?!" Edo questioned, pointing an accusing finger at the two toned brunette at the same time Jehu said,

"He's not my boyfriend."

"Hey!" Both Haou and Edo ignored Jehu. "What's wrong with me?!"

"What's right with you??" Edo shot.

"Oh like you're so perfect!"

"At least I'm better than you!"

"Says the idiot in the suit!"

"Says the pansy with no fashion sense!"

"Alright!" Jehu exclaimed, stepping in between them. "That's enough."

Ryo and Yusuke both smacked the back of the silverette's head. "Idiot."

Jehu took Haou's hand and led him away. "See you guys later."

It wasn't until they crossed the quad that Haou realized Jehu was still holding his hand. Haou abruptly pulled his hand away and stopped walking.

Jehu stopped as well but didn't turn around.

"… Do you really think this'll work?"

"Ignore Edo. He's an idiot."

"I know that. But that's not what I meant."

Jehu stayed silent.

"This isn't a fairytale, so I can't expect you to—"

"I can't tell you I love you. But if this happened, if Fate wanted us to be together, it had to be for a reason, right?"

Haou didn't answer.

Jehu sighed. "You don't want this to work."

"I never said—"

"You didn't have to."

The bell rand, signaling the end of lunch.

Jehu turned around and took a step towards Haou.

He leaned down. He expected Haou to shy away or push him back, but didn't let his surprise show when that didn't happen.

He gave the brunette a soft kiss on his cheek.

Gold met amber.

"I'll see you later, Haou."

Jehu took a step back, turned around and walked away.

Haou didn't stop him this time.

He stayed in the same place and didn't move until he heard the late bell ring.

He looked down and made his way out of school.

Not caring about his last two classes, Haou went home.

* * *

**Monkey: Ehehe... nobody kill me! Dx **

**I'm so tired right now o.e... **

**Alright, well, I'll update again... maybe next week. I can't guarantee anything! x.x **

**But hope you guys liked it! And what do you guys think will happen after this? Think those two will get together after all this? o.o**

**See you guys later! xD**


	4. Miserable

**Monkey: Damn it's been a while since I've updated, huh? xDD I'm so sorry for taking so long, but right now, I'm having huge writer's block T.T I don't know how to get out of it, but I hope that this chapter didn't turn out too bad n.n"**

**Still owning nothing! And by the way, at the end of the chapter, Haou's thoughts are in normal writing, Jehu's are in italics and the last thought is both of them thinking. :D**

* * *

"You idiot!" Reiko exclaimed loudly, throwing a dictionary at Jehu, who threw himself in front of the couch and avoided a possibly lethal hit. "What do mean you left your soul mate? God Jehu, I knew you were stupid, but this is just ridiculous!"

Jehu's head popped up from the couch. "Oh come on mom! I think you're exaggerating!"

With her hands on her hips, she raised a brow. "Exaggerating? I'm exaggerating?" She placed her hands on the top of the couch and jumped over it, scaring and surprising Jehu who screamed and rolled out of her way.

"Now how am I gonna get grandkids?" Reiko took hold of one of Jehu's legs and pulled him towards her.

"AH!" Amber eyes widened and the eighteen year old tired desperately to grab onto something to get away, but it proved useless. His mother had a tight grip on him and it looked like she wasn't planning on letting him get away any time soon.

His mother flipped him over and she straddled him, keeping him pinned and unable to move. "This means no grandkids!"

"We're both guys, there weren't going to _be _any grandkids!" Jehu shot. He couldn't believe his mom still possessed so much strength after so many years. Not to mention, he should be used to this kind of treatment by now.

"It's called adoption stupid!"

"It's called insanity woman!"

The purplette narrowed her eyes and reached out to take a hold of Jehu's ear.

"Ow!" Reiko stood up and dragged her son up with her.

_Thank God I'm eighteen and I'm going to move the hell out of there as soon as school ends._

Maybe.

She pulled on his ear.

Hopefully.

"Ouch! Mom, I'm not four!" His hands flew up to his aching ear. He wouldn't dare try to force her to let go, but maybe she could ease her grip a little.

"No, but you act like it." Reiko gave one last tug at his ear then let go. Crossing her arms over her chest, his mother gave out a long sigh. "Talk to him, Jehu. The last thing the both you need is to throw away your happiness because of a small argument."

"Happiness? How do you know I'll be happy with him?" He carefully rubbed his red ear and took a seat on the couch.

Reiko stepped in front of him. "He's your soul mate. You're supposed to and will be happy with him. If you give him a chance."

"It didn't look like he wanted one." He looked down as he spoke, surprising Reiko. She squatted down in front of him and studied him for a bit. His face was unusually unreadable, not a sign to give away his thoughts. But his amber eyes were clouded with emotion, and Reiko bet he didn't even realize that.

Decided, Reiko stood up and whacked the back of Jehu's head.

"Ow, what?" He raised his face at her, all previous thoughts out the window and replaced with confusion.

"Did that knock some sense into you?"

"Huh?" She lifted up her hand again.

Jehu jumped off the couch and away from his mother.

Amber eyes rolled. She tucked her bangs behind her ear and she shook her head. She walked away, her back towards him.

"Alright, until you fix your life, you better watch your back."

"Watch my—" Jehu ducked a remote control aimed at his face and heard it shatter against the wall behind him.

_Shit on a stick…_

* * *

Seira stared at her son in disbelief. "What do you mean you two are done? You didn't even last a week! Hell, you didn't even last a day!"

Haou slowly made his way to the kitchen and made himself some coffee.

His mother knew to be patient and she leaned against the threshold of the kitchen, arms crossed and her shoulder supporting her weight.

Gold eyes locked and Haou pinched the bridge of his nose, looking away. "I don't know mom, we're through? No more soul mates? Fate can kiss our—" he breathed in deeply and stopped himself. "Look, can we not talk about this right now?"

Once the coffee was done, he poured himself a cup and made his way out of the kitchen, passing his mom along the way. She watched his every move and arched a brow.

"So that's it?"

Haou froze at the bottom of the stairs.

"Didn't know you to be a quitter."

"Mom, I—"

"No, no, I get it." Seira put her hands up in defense. "You're willing to live a lonely life just like that?"

Haou's grip on the cup tightened. "Mom—"

"It's fine Haou, really. I just didn't think you'd screw things up so quickly."

"You don't understand!"

His mother once again crossed her arms over her chest and resisted the urge to smirk. "Try me."

"It's just, it's just… It's different." Haou spun on his heel to face her, gold eyes confused. "I don't know what to do."

Seira ignored the coffee Haou spilled when he turned and instead walked to the dinner table. Haou lowered his head and followed suit. He sat down across from her and waited, setting down his cup in front of him.

"So it's different, so what?"

He refrained himself from looking up at her and mumbled, "I didn't want this."

"Did he?"

_Did he?_

The brunette shrugged. "He was more… willing to try this than I was."

"And what does that tell you?"

Haou looked up at her, uncertainty written on his face.

_Really, this son of mine… _Seira thought, nearly shaking her head. She stared at him expectantly.

The brunette reached out for his coffee, then paused and took hold of the cup, spinning it around slowly on the table, his eyes drawn to the circulating black liquid in the cup. There was no more steam present, signifying his coffee was cold. He didn't answer because he knew this was one of those questions where she wanted him to think before responding and right now, he had no idea what to think.

"Well?"

Haou stopped moving the cup around and instead gripped it tightly. "I don't… I don't know."

He could feel gold, penetrating eyes staring straight at him, fixedly and deep.

Seira finally blinked and removed her gaze from her son slowly. She leaned back in her seat and brought her attention to the window next to them and saw the skies darken. "Maybe it'll rain today," she said absentmindedly.

Her son followed her gaze and released the cup.

The raven quietly stood up, pushing her chair back as she got up, the scraping sound against the floor making Haou a little uncomfortable. She gave Haou one last glance before saying, "I hope you find out what that tells you."

Seira left the area and walked up the stairs, leaving him alone to think.

He lost his soul mate, his mind was in turmoil, his mother seemed unhappy with him and his coffee was cold.

That told him his life sucked.

* * *

Days passed and neither senior saw each other, or had talks with their mothers over their soul mate issues.

Haou's headaches worsened. When he went to the nurse's office during fifth period one day, he tried to avoid remembering how Jehu held him that day in the nurse's office, effectively helping him forget about his headache.

He even missed school one day, his headache bringing up a fever and draining his energy to the point where he couldn't get out of bed.

Jehu started to go out drinking with his friends again.

His mother didn't do anything for one day like she promised him for having gone to the shrine, but after that, she not only pestered him when he had a hangover, she tried to stop him from leaving the house when she saw he was drinking too much too often.

It even came down to her putting bars on his window and leaving a rabid chained rottweiler right outside his room.

Their teachers noticed a difference in their personalities too.

Haou, who normally followed instructions and allowed himself to work with others when necessary, refused to do the class work and instead slept the periods away. When one of his classmates woke him up and tried to get him to work with her, he glared at her with so much hatred, she stepped back in shock and nearly cried. Afterwards, Haou had left the class, claiming he was bored and went home.

His teachers and counselors had tried talking to him, to try to find out what was making him decide to act up so close to graduation, but the two toned brunette simply ignored them or blew them off.

Seira had been called in a couple of times, but the only thing she said to do was to disregard him, he had a lot going on in his life at the time. Which wasn't a complete lie, but Seira couldn't figure out what to do either. Next to this name, she knew nothing of her son's soul mate and without anything else, she couldn't find out where he lived and go try to coax him into talking to Haou again. She was glad Haou's father was currently overseas on a business trip, otherwise Haou might act worse.

Which reminded her, she needed to figure out how to let her husband know their son was pouting because he lost his soul mate. Well, saying it bluntly always seemed to work. She also needed to tell him their son was gay, although both already kind of figured and had made bets to see when he himself would realize it.

With a grin, Seira pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and began dialing her husband. Screw long distance, she had a bet to win.

Jehu had surprised Reiko, who didn't expect him to suddenly do worse in school.

She had been called in a couple of times already but she told them she couldn't do anything to stop Jehu, he was old enough to decide for himself what it was that he wanted to do with his life in school. And if he wanted to fuck things up, so be it.

Actually, Jehu was a good student, just a little on the lazy side and got complaints from his teachers on behavior conduct.

His grades began to drop and Reiko was a little worried, hoping this wouldn't hinder him graduating. She could only imagine what Jehu would get from his father if he was there and not away on a business trip.

She was even more amazed when Jehu came home with a "G" on one of his assignments, an essay for his AP Government class.

"What is this?" Reiko raised a brow, watching Jehu throw his backpack carelessly onto the ground, then racing quickly up the stairs, taking two at a time.

"Don't know, don't care." Jehu called at the top of the stairs.

Their now pet rottweiler, Sparkle, barked viciously at Jehu who wrestled around a bit with her before running into his room and slamming the door shut so Sparkle couldn't get in and possibly kill him.

Reiko shook her head and sat down ungracefully on the couch, Jehu's essay in her hand.

A big red "G" was at the top of his paper and that made her curious to know what it meant and why he got it. She was fully aware that he often ditched that class, but he always aced and every test in there, he said it was luck but his mother disagreed.

Her amber eyes began reading Jehu's surprisingly neat cursive and she didn't finish the first sentence before she laughed. When it came down to it, her son had some balls.

_I'm fully aware that you taught a lesson on love to the class when I was gone solely to screw me over. You hate me and I'm not too fond of you either. Yet no matter what you and I think, you asked us for a two page essay covering completely the topic you lectured on and on about yesterday. I was gone as usual, but thanks to the wonderful power of threats I inherited from my mother, I know the topic. I obviously can't thoroughly explain with details everything you said, but I have to fill up these two pages somehow, so I will tell you what I think on it. My thoughts are guaranteed to differ from yours, so fail me already. Hit me with your best shot. Anyway, I think Love is a bitch. (I told you they'd be different.) I think it's unfair in the sense that it gets your hopes up, thinking you've finally found "the one" or your soul mate or someone that you think if given the chance, you could fall for them. Then Love laughs in your face and snatches it all away because it turns out we were in over our heads, leaving us confused and miserable. You probably mentioned something along the lines of how wonderful it is, how everyone can find it and whatever other crap came out of your mouth to spite me (I told you, hit me with your best shot. And really, why did you go through all the trouble of doing all this just to fail one student? Are you really so bitter that you need to take your anger out on one person? Do you get some sort of sick satisfaction torturing your students? I don't know what I ever did to you, but let it be known that you started this mutual animosity. You need to get a life.) I think you're wrong, and yet, part of me hopes you're right. And because I don't like you, I won't tell you why I think that or what I hope you're right about. And now to finish off this assignment (you said two complete pages, but you never specified against drawings), I will now draw pictures of you in ridiculous outfits._

In all honesty, it shocked Reiko that Jehu didn't get into huge trouble for this. Then again, maybe the "G" was all it took. She now understood what it meant. Jehu had gotten a grade lower than an F, and it wasn't an F minus.

"Looks like Jehu really does miss him."

* * *

A couple days later, both mothers were once again called up to the school.

Reiko was walking into the school, her arms crossed over her chest, her hands clenching into fists. "This son of mine, I'm busy at work and he goes and does something stupid, _again_. Instead of white, my hair will go green if he keeps this shit up. Maybe I should call his father, at least then Jehu could annoy the hell out of—AH!"

She hadn't been paying attention to where she was going and as she walked through the red metal door at the school's entrance, she crashed into somebody. Reiko caught herself using the wall beside her and she saw the raven haired woman she bumped into stop herself from falling using the open door.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't looking where I was going," Reiko apologized with a sheepish grin.

The raven returned the smile and shook her head. "I wasn't paying attention either, I just came from a talk with my son's dean."

"Well what a coincidence, I'm going in there to have a talk with my son's dean too."

The two women grinned and shook hands with each other.

"Reiko."

"Seira."

"Pleasure to meet you."

"Likewise."

They released their hands and each took a step to their left, allowing the other room to walk past them.

"I wish you luck with your son." Seira offered with a smile.

Reiko nodded. "As I with yours."

The two shared a small laugh, then went on their ways, not realizing the irony of the situation.

Elsewhere, Haou and Jehu both experienced a short shiver running up their spines.

_Well, that can't be good, _both thought, one in the upstairs dean's office and the other in the downstairs one.

* * *

How do you lose a soul mate?

_Aren't they the ones that are supposed to stay by your side forever?_

Maybe the priest was wrong.

_He's never been wrong before._

But there is a first time for everything.

_Damn it._

Why does it sound like I'm

_Trying to convince myself of this?_

I _can't _stop_ thinking _about _him… _But _I _don't_ think _I_ can _ask_ for _a_ second _chance_… can _I?

* * *

**Monkey: Well, hope you guys liked it. n.n" Thanks for reading x3 See you later! xD**


	5. Worry

**Monkey: Hey! Still not owning anything! XD **

**I'm sorry it's been so long o.o; I just can't seem to get out of this writer's block TT_TT I'm scared now! But, I do want to finish this fic before summer ends, so I'm going to keep trying to write and get out of this slump... **

**And this chappie could be considered a filler, so sorry _buuut _I'm working on the next chapter right now so it should be up later today, if not then tomorrow at the latest... hopefully n.n;**

**Hope you like it!**

* * *

A door slammed closed loudly one afternoon, its echo running down to the end of the hallway, drawing some attention. Several heads popped out from their respective rooms, each wondering what was going on behind the door to the VP's office.

"I'm tired of putting up with you every single day! You're such an ass!" An enraged male voice yelled from behind that single door.

"Trust me, the feeling's completely mutual! Why don't you just take your shit and shove it up your ass?" Another, equally irritated if not more so, male voice exclaimed back.

As soon as the curious workers heard those two voices, they shook their heads, no longer fearful of any unexpected murders happening. It was common to hear those two shout and yell at each other towards the end of the day. Those two men had only been in town for a couple of weeks, but that had been long enough. Every worker had been previously warned about those two, but yet it managed to alert them each time. All the earlier onlookers went back to their matters at hand, closing their doors now only to fear a premeditated murder.

But, if those two had been working together for the last five years, they were just having another lover's spat and there would be no death.

A loud, sudden crash was heard throughout that immediate area.

Probably an ugly lover's spat, but still no death.

Hopefully.

"Damn it Isamu! Do you have any idea how much I want to fire you right now?" A raven haired and eyed man exclaimed, slamming his hands onto the desk in front of him.

The only other in the room, a brunette male with green eyes raised his arms up and stepped closer towards him, his eyes narrowed yet looking smug. "Fine then! Fire me! I don't want to work for you anymore anyway! I hate you! You're always being such a jackass, Vergil!"

The Vice President of Asenko Industries rolled his eyes at his assistant. "Then why don't you just quit you dumbass? If you hate working with me so much, then stop being such a masochist and leave already!"

Just as Isamu opened his mouth to retort crossly, Vergil's cell rang, interrupting the direction of the argument.

Vergil shot Isamu a glare before tearing his eyes away from him to look at the cell he pulled out of his pocket. He saw the name on the screen. Breathing in deeply, he pressed the green button on his cell and brought it to his ear. "Hello?"

"… Don't tell me I interrupted another fight between you and Isamu." At his name, Vergil glanced at the brunette who gave him the finger.

"Fuck off." Vergil snapped.

"Vergil!" came from his phone.

The raven looked away again and paid attention to the call. "Sorry, what is it?"

"How's it going over there on the other side of the world?"

Vergil bit back a curt response. He refused to see the brunette who was seating himself comfortably on the black leather couch Vergil had in his temporary office. His breathing was quick as he was trying to calm himself down. Isamu pinched the bridge of his nose and heard Vergil's side of the conversation.

Looking away from the wall he had been staring at before, Vergil guided his eyes to the window behind him, moving the curtains aside to see the view. "Is that really all you called for?" He tried to suppress it, but his impatience showed clearly in his voice.

He could almost _feel _her roll her eyes at him.

"Geez Verg, what crawled up your ass and died?"

"Isamu." Said brunette looked up at him but Vergil ignored him then added, "Though he's not dead yet."

This time, Isamu gave him both of the fingers which Vergil caught in the reflection of the window. He returned the gesture with one hand.

"You two are pathetic. Worse than a pair of bratty three year olds. I swear, if I wasn't your wife I'd think you two were secretly tapping each other."

Vergil made a disgusted face and refrained himself from yelling and getting angry again. "_Hell no_. That will _never _happen."

"Uh-huh. Whatever." She sighed. "Anyway, I called to ask and tell you something."

"What?" Vergil looked past the room's reflection in the window and looked onto the scenery. His office on the very top floor of a fifteenth story building had it's advantages. The view was amazing.

"When are you coming home again?"

Vergil took note of the gorgeous ocean that wasn't too far off in the distance. If he wasn't there on a business trip, he would be out there swimming before he and Isamu could start another argument. Now that he thought about it, Isamu couldn't swim. Had to do with a traumatizing experience when he was younger or something along those lines, Vergil never really paid too much attention to his hated assistant. "If all goes well, I'll be home in a couple of days or so."

"Great."

Vergil continued to look at the ocean, seeing the wondrous waves crashing down in the cerulean water, bringing up droplets of water into the air, shining with the sun.

"Well the other thing was," his wife continued, wondering what kind of reaction she'd get out of him. "Your son's gay and he's depressed because he lost his soul mate, so if he's still like that by the time you come home, now you know why."

The raven thought about challenging Isamu to a swimming race, or maybe just running away from him in general to go to the water, he figured Isamu would never follow him—

"Wait, _what_?" That cut off his train of thought.

She yawned. "Well I'm tired. Plus this call is costing me, so I'll see you when I see you, bye." And she hung up on him without waiting for a response.

"Wait! Reiko, what are you talking about? Reiko!" But of course, yelling to a person who had already tossed the phone into her room as she went on to play with a rabid rottweiler named Sparkle proved useless.

Isamu resisted the urge to ask him what happened.

Vergil stared down at his phone in confusion, then turned it off and put it back in his pocket. He turned around to face the brunette again, but before he could utter a single word, Isamu's phone started ringing like crazy.

Huh. Looks like the two were popular today.

Isamu stayed on the couch ignoring the raven's glare and pulled his phone out. Recognizing the name, he flipped his phone open and put it to his ear. "Hello?"

A long sigh came from the phone. "Isamu, you're a fool."

The brunette in question brought the cell away from his ear and raised a brow at it. Remembering there was no way she could know what he did, he moved the phone back and spoke. "Why?"

"Because you are." She laughed. "Hi."

Isamu muttered something about having a weird wife under his breath and replied to her, ignoring the smirk Vergil sported easily on his face. "Hi. Is this important or can it wait until I get home?"

She snorted. Obviously she had heard his earlier mumblings but let them slide. Isamu could hear the amusement in his wife's voice. "Geez, I feel so ignored. It's bad enough that you're on the other side of the world and you've left me here all alone—"

"We have a son." Isamu cut in letting his eyes wander over to Vergil who gave a silent sigh as he sat down at his desk, sorting out and signing some papers. If he wanted to calm down, then maybe Isamu would too.

"Right. Because as the loving son he is, he makes up for the absence of happiness when you're gone. He's just like you!"

Isamu nearly cringed at the sarcasm. He knew their son was a lot like him and that might not be such a great thing, but it's not like it was his fault. Vergil caught him staring and raised a brow in question. Isamu made a face at him which caused the raven to roll his eyes and go back to the papers on his desk.

"… Isamu!"

"Huh?" He quickly answered, his attention flying back to his wife. "What?"

"You were staring at Vergil again, weren't you?"

This time he did cringe. It was that tone in her voice. It was like saying that she knew something he didn't. Or worse. Like she had some bad blackmail on him. Isamu scratched the back of his neck. "I was not."

"You so were."

"No I wasn't," he replied coolly.

Vergil stopped signing papers to look curiously (though he would never admit it) at the brunette. He could see his assistant grow a bit flushed while being on adamant on denying whatever his wife was saying, waving his free arm around the place.

"For the last time! I wasn't—" He remembered who else was in the room with him. "… I wasn't."

"Relax Isamu. I don't mind if you decide to experience swinging for the other side—"

"No way!" A dark blush spread over his face. How could his wife even say something like that? "How could you even say something like that?"

She chuckled on the other end. It was so much fun to torment her husband. "Ok, ok. Chill. You're acting like our son."

Isamu breathed out a sigh of relief and walked over to one of the bookshelves in the room. His eyes briefly scanned the titles and he frowned when he saw nothing was in his native language. "Wait…" He replayed his wife's last words to him. "What?"

"What?"

"What do you mean I'm acting like our son? Since when does—"

"Oh right. That. Well you'll find out when you come home. He's had a big change come into his life." She sounded like she had a smirk creeping onto her face. And it was that voice that made Isamu pale.

"Big change? You mean like—"

"You'll find out! I'll see you when you get home!"

"Seira! Wait!" But alas, it was too late.

She had already hung up, leaving Isamu's unconfirmed thoughts running like crazy with the dial tone.

He pocketed his cell and walked over to Vergil's desk.

The raven finished signing a paper before adding it to a growing stack on the right side of his desk. He pulled out another paper to read and sign and pointed with his pen to the growing stack of at least three hundred papers. Those papers had been accumulating there for the last week or so already. "Go give each of those to their respective departments, will you?"

Isamu blinked. That was a lot of work!

Vergil signed the current paper he was reading and added it to the pile as well. Black eyes stared at the brunette. "Well?"

His assistant narrowed his eyes at him, wishing he could get the pen he was holding and shove it up his… Grudgingly, he took the stack, all the while giving Vergil a straightforward glare, he knew that Vergil knew how much he hated doing this type of thing. "I hate you. I hope you die."

"Only after you," Vergil replied smoothly, going back to a packet in front of him.

Isamu sneered at him and made his way out of the office.

It was just another one of those days.

Just like everyday.

* * *

It was lunchtime at last.

Asuka, Fubuki and Manjyome were all sitting at a table in the quad, far enough from the middle of the quad to be away from the chaos of the underclassmen and close enough to see what's going on around the place.

"This can't go on," Asuka spoke, getting the attention of the two boys.

Manjyome swallowed a bite of his pizza. "What can't?"

Her eyes were focused on a figure on the other side of the quad who was sitting on the ground up against a wall, his knees up against his chest and his arms hugging them tightly.

Asuka moved her head around as students blocked her view from the brunette. "He's still going at it."

Manjyome and Fubuki followed her line of sight and shook their heads at the sight of their friend.

"How long has this been going for?" The raven asked, deciding he was done eating as he pushed his plate away. He let Fubuki take the rest of the cheese pizza since he hadn't bought any lunch and turned to look at the blonde.

She continued watching the unmoving brunette who simply stared up at the sky. "Few days now."

Her brother happily took a bite of his food before asking, "Is this because of Jehu?"

The junior nodded, tempted to go talk to Haou. She stood up, but the raven senior took a hold of her wrist and stopped her. Asuka looked back at him and he shook his head. A frown manifested itself on her face as she took her seat once again.

Fubuki spoke up before she could. "Give him some time alone. He looks like he needs it." He finished off his food and rest his chin on the palm of his hand. He waved his other hand around. "It's a man thing, sis. A man needs his space."

Asuka turned to her older brother, raising a brow as she tucked some blonde hair behind her ear. "A man thing?" She echoed, doubt in her voice.

A nod. "Of course." He grinned at her.

The bell ran, signaling the end of their lunch period.

The three silently stood up and garnered their things, making sure to throw away their trash. They looked over at the brunette who made no motion to get up.

"Do you think he's going to ditch fourth period again?" Fubuki asked, shrugging his backpack onto his shoulder.

Asuka clutched her textbooks close to her chest as Manjyome stuffed his into his backpack. The blonde let out a small sigh. "Probably. I hope he and Jehu patch things up soon."

Manjyome snorted. "If they ever."

The female elbowed him in the stomach and then made her way over to her next class. Fubuki laughed at the raven then walked off as well, leaving a frowning Manjyome to go to his fourth period.

* * *

"Hey, have either of you seen Jehu?" Yusuke asked at the beginning of lunch. He took a seat at the table his friends were at, sitting on Ryo's left.

The bluenette shook his head as he uncapped his water bottle. "Why? What's he done now?"

The greenette frowned. He looked around the quad and continued. "He's been ditching class a lot more now, and whenever I see him, he's always got a terrible hangover."

Edo picked at his food with his fork in disgust. What the hell had possessed him to order spaghetti? He hated the damn thing! "It's not like that's anything new. We've already tried to help him. If he wants to drink himself into an early grave, then that's his problem."

Ryo smacked the back of the junior's head. "It's not like he'll listen to us anyway," he claimed, looking back at Yusuke with a shrug.

"If you agree with me," Edo began, rubbing the back of his head with a scowl, "Why'd you hit me?"

"Habit. And I didn't agree with you." He took a drink of his water. "I meant, I've already tried talking him into going back to Haou."

Yusuke nodded as he ate some of his fruit snacks. "And how did that go?"

Ryo looked around and saw the bluenette in question sleeping on the stairs at the opposite end of the quad from where they were. The senior shook his head in disapproval. "Have you seen him going out with Haou?"

"No."

"Then it didn't go so well."

Edo finally decided to eat some of the spaghetti. Easily, he wrapped some of the spaghetti around his fork and he brought it to his mouth. He grimaced at the taste. With some trouble, Edo swallowed and Ryo showed some rare sympathy and gave him his water. Once the taste was mostly out of his mouth, Edo pushed his plate far away from him and regarded the greenette with a look of boredom. Now he remembered why he chose spaghetti. It was either that or pizza and he never ate pizza at school anymore after that one incident back in sophomore year… "I hope he and Haou don't get back together."

"What do you have against Haou?" Ryo asked, taking back his water.

Yusuke wondered the same thing and stared expectantly at the silverette.

He turned away and refused to answer. Ryo's eyes studied him for a moment, then he reached out a hand to rest on his shoulder, making him turn to look at him. The bluenette regarded the junior for a moment before letting a smirk pull at the ends of his lips.

"You liked him."

Edo turned red. Yusuke actually had to wonder if that hue of red was healthy to have on his face.

"No way! I'd never like that emo moron! Never! I'm not even gay!"

Ryo moved his hand from his shoulder and lightly patted his back. "Of course you're not." "I'm not!"

Yusuke stayed silent and simply kept his attention on how Edo's blush reached his ears and showed no signs of dying down.

The bluenette chuckled, amusement shining in his eyes. "Well what do you know? Our little Edo's go at crush."

"Not on him!" He spoke before thinking and his hands flew up to cover his mouth.

Ryo continued laughing and Yusuke was only left in question not about who Edo was crushing on, but on how the hell they transitioned from talking about Jehu to talking about Edo.

The oldest senior stopped laughing at him after a while and raised a brow. "You never told us."

Lowering his hands, Edo placed them on his lap and began to play nervously with his fingers. His blush lightened up a bit, but it was still pretty clear on his face. "It… I didn't think you needed to know."

"Well," Yusuke finally spoke. "Who is it?"

The two stared at him, waiting until he spoke. Luckily for him, the second he opened his mouth, the bell rang and Edo jumped up, gathered his things and ran off without saying goodbye.

Yusuke and Ryo shared a glance. Well that was weird.

"I wonder who it is," Yusuke asked absentmindedly as they got all of their things.

He received a shrug in response. "Whoever it is, God help them."

The greenette shook his head and smiled. "I still hope Jehu and Haou can work things out."

"Yeah, although with Jehu involved in this, I wouldn't be surprised if they were surrounded with madness and chaos by the end of all this."

They shared a laugh then went on their separate ways.

* * *

During lunch, Haou found himself thinking about what he saw himself doing in his future. He was still debating over what career he would pick, but as soon as he thought about having a family, a familiar bluenette appeared in his mind and he frowned.

He couldn't.

He… they couldn't.

Could they?

Holding in a sigh, he stared off into space and wondered how his dad was doing. Hopefully better than him.

* * *

Jehu's dreams found themselves drifting to the brunette. In one dream, he had come close to kissing him. Quickly, that dream faded and he found himself in front of a crying Haou. What surprised him the most was the strong urge he had to bring the smaller senior into his arms. And he did. But that feeling only lasted him a brief moment before he was woken up by the sound of the bell.

He opened his eyes and cursed colorfully at the throbbing headache that quickly made itself known to him.

_Hah… fuck. I hope dad's having a better time at work…_

* * *

Isamu let his eye twitch when Vergil ordered him to get him a cup of coffee the way he liked it. "I'm not your servant!"

"Yeah you are. That's why you're my assistant," Vergil replied without looking up from the papers he was reading.

Isamu fumed. "Well it's not like I'm in a maid's outfit so you can order me around!" The other allowed a devious smirk to appear on his face. "That can be arranged."

"Fuck you!"

"Not in your dreams."

With one last glare, Isamu stormed out. When the door slammed shut, both men paused to sort out their thoughts.

_Damn. This is a pain in the ass. _Vergil shook his head.

_I hate my life. _Isamu thought with a frown.

* * *

Reiko played with and fed Sparkle who had taken a liking to her as she wondered if she should've told Vergil about what exactly was happening to Jehu.

_Nah… _She thought with a grin. _He can find out for himself._

* * *

Seira decided to go take a nap to relax. It wasn't very often she could screw with Isamu twice in one call.

She let her mind come across the bet with Isamu. She hadn't told him anything. A smile appeared on her face as she laid down comfortably on the bed.

_Boy will it be fun to win this bet._

* * *

**Monkey: That wasn't too bad, was it? I'm trying! And no I have no idea how people that work in an office act like or do or anything for that matter, so please excuse that if I totally missed n.n; Sooo, I wonder how the dads will react once they find out who their sons' soul mates are xD Anyone else curious? XD And don't worry, next chapter will focus more on Haou and Jehu, I just wanted to make sure I used the other charries too and not just those two :D**

**Oh, anyone know who I should make Edo like? I just wanted to mess with him a little in this fic, and it seems I finally got my chance to do so but now I don't know where to go with that XD Well, see you guys later!**


	6. Hopeless

**Monkey: Yikes! I couldn't update yesterday because my computer went haywire, but here it is! The next chappie! **

**Hmmm, I hope I didn't make Haou and Jehu too... unbelievable? I don't know, I'm experimenting with those two, so sorry if it seems like I'm making them confusing for you guys n.n"**

**Hope you guys like it!**

* * *

It was only the next day when two seniors found themselves glaring at each other before turning around to walk in opposite ways.

Several people watching from the streets had seen the whole exchange and some found themselves wondering what kind of history those two shared.

What none of them knew was that the history of those two only dated back to a couple of weeks, with nothing but failed attempts and disregarding something they don't quite understand.

* * *

It was a dark and stormy night.

Ok, that's a lie.

It was a bright and sunny morning.

Jehu slowly opened the front door of his house. He couldn't go in through his window anymore because it was still barred and the back door wasn't an option—his mom had changed the lock and she refused to give him a key. And no matter how many times he tried, Jehu couldn't steal her key or make a copy of it.

Cringing, Jehu wondered why was it that every time someone was trying to sneak into their homes, all the normally quiet sounds seemed like they were surrounded with a microphone and giant speakers. The creaking of the door continued as he pushed the door open. Jehu half wanted to slam it instead since that would probably cause less noise.

He finally walked inside and closed the door quicker than when he had opened it and he hoped that Sparkle wasn't awake.

His vision swam and he admitted he probably had one too many drinks again, but whoever spiked the punch at the party wasn't using the light stuff.

Stepping carefully on the wooden floor, he resisted the urge to swear out loud every time a floor board creaked.

This was what he meant. Sneaking in never worked! He didn't even know why he still tried it, but oh well, he was already doing it and there was no turning back now.

Cautiously, or as cautiously as a just a little past tipsy guy could get, he made it all the way to the stairs. He reached the third step before…

"Freeze."

And he did. His body froze completely, even in mid-step. Inside his hazy mind, his conscience was freaking out, wishing he hadn't been drunk when he got caught. And damn it! Why won't his heart stop beating so fast? Maybe his mom could hear it even though he had on a surprisingly calm exterior! She could smell fear! Hell, she could _feel_ it he bet!

Or was it even fear?

"Do you know what time it is?" His mother stepped out of the shadows of the kitchen with her arms crossed over her chest, her amber eyes staring dangerously at him.

"Seven-thirty in the morning." Jehu replied smoothly.

Nope it wasn't fear.

It was stupidity.

"And why are you coming home at seven-thirty in the morning?"

Jehu spared his mom a glance before running up the stairs, Reiko taking off after him.

"Come back here!" she yelled.

"No way!"

He stopped at the top of the stairs when he saw Sparkle sitting in front of his room, sleeping peacefully. He had to wonder how come it didn't wake up when she heard the screaming.

Not bothering to think twice, Jehu raced into the guest room and slammed the door shut just as his mom ran towards him.

"Open this door!"

Jehu remained silent as he looked around, his gaze stopping at the window. Oh thank God! It wasn't barred! But there were no trees or anything that would help him escape.

He shook his head and ran a hand through his blue locks. Just great. He snuck into the house only to have to sneak out once again.

See kids? Don't try sneaking in. It never works.

"Jehu! Open this door or so help me I'll skin you alive!"

He didn't doubt her so he quickly ran towards the window and opened it, all the while hearing his mother banging on the door while cursing beautifully. Normally she was very calm when she was angry, but Jehu knew he was going to be in deep shit this time.

Not only did he sneak out at somewhere around ten at night then sneak back in only to sneak back out, but he did it knowing that his mother wouldn't like him doing so, and he went to a party that lasted the rest of the night. At least he wasn't completely wasted and managed to string together some coherent thoughts.

He fumbled a bit with the window then managed to open it. Outside the room, Reiko heard the window suddenly unlock.

"Oh no you don't!" She turned around and took off down the stairs again, leaving a now awake and barking Sparkle chained near Jehu's room.

Jehu swung one leg over the windowsill and looked down. It was a two story drop with concrete below him, but that didn't sound too bad. He heard the front door opening and Jehu put all thoughts behind him, swung the other leg over and jumped.

He landed in a crouch and quickly stood up and ran.

"Jehu!" Reiko called after him.

He turned around and waved at her with a grin. "Just wanted to drop by to show you I'm still alive! Later!" And he ran down the street and out of sight, shocking his mother with what he said.

Reiko had stopped when she reached the opened gate and sighed in relief, letting herself lean against the gate.

It wasn't that Jehu was a bad kid. He just liked parties and had a thing for drinking at them, much like his father did. But Reiko, even though she sometimes liked to torture him for fun, she was still his mother and she did worry about him. It was one of her secret fears that she didn't know that he knew, that one day someone would knock on her door and tell her Jehu was dead.

It seems that fear wasn't so secret anymore, but she was glad that he was alright.

Still she frowned. That boy was going to give her green hairs instead of white. Even though he knew he shouldn't be doing stupid things, that didn't stop him.

"He's eighteen, Reiko, your words can only influence him now, not order him," She remembered Vergil telling her one day a few months ago when Jehu didn't come home for two days.

"I know," she had replied to him. "I just wish he wasn't so stupid!"

Vergil chuckled. "He's not. He just wants to have fun."

Reiko looked at him. "You wouldn't be saying that if he got some girl pregnant."

Vergil smiled at her. "He won't."

_Oh he won't all right… _Reiko thought with a shake of her head. At least, she hoped not.

Thankful that it was a weekend, Reiko went back into the house and decided to start her day without going to sleep since she had spent the whole night awake waiting for Jehu to come home.

* * *

Seira knocked lightly on Haou's door. "Hey Haou. You awake?"

Mumbling was her response.

The raven haired woman nodded. "Haou, I'm going to go out for a bit, do you want to come or will you be alright here?"

If Haou hadn't been half asleep, he would've scoffed. He was almost eighteen for crying out loud, it's not like he'd burn the house down or throw a party. "Mmm... no..."

"No you won't be ok or no you don't want to come?"

"Don't wanna..."

With a smile, Seira began walking away. On a normal basis, Haou wasn't much of a morning person, but he had no idea how cute he seemed to her when he was mumbling half asleep. It made her think that he was still her little boy on the inside, and she knew it was true, it was just that he was almost all grown up and would soon be starting his own life.

_With a certain soul mate I hope..._

"Alright Haou, call me if you need anything!" And she walked down the stairs and left the house.

In his room, Haou opened his eyes and stared at the wall in front of him. He knew his mother didn't mean it, but once he was awake, he couldn't go back to sleep. Giving a small sigh, he got out of bed and opened the door to his room, did his morning necessities and made his way out to the kitchen to make himself some coffee.

As he watched the coffee heat up, he thought about how his life was before all this happened. He used to be... pretty unemotional. He used to be very quiet and calm about things.

Used to be.

There was the phrase that made him cringe.

As soon as he had met Jehu for the first time at the shrine, his life took a one-eighty degree turn that was giving him a run for his money.

To be honest, he didn't like having changed so suddenly. It almost seemed like it was unnatural. And yet, everything about a soul mate was supposed to be all except that.

He poured himself some coffee while staring blankly ahead of him. He almost wished he hadn't let his mother talk him into going to that shrine that day.

_The shrine…_

Maybe the priest really was wrong? It was possible…

Haou shook his head, knowing that was just wishful thinking. The priest had never been wrong before and had no reason to start doing it now. It just didn't make sense! Why him? Why _with _him? Had none of this happened, he might have gone on with his life then had to deal with all this once the time came.

But not now.

Taking a sip, he let the coffee burn him slightly, before putting the coffee on the kitchen counter.

He decided to go talk to the priest, hoping that maybe he had made a mistake with them.

And if he didn't?

That was the nagging thought in the back of his mind. So Fate and Love and whoever else had decided to screw with him, so was he or was he not supposed to end up with Jehu?

Feeling a headache coming from all the thoughts running a hundred miles a minute, he finished up his coffee, showered and got dressed for the day, then left his house after taking some pills for his head.

It seemed like it was going to be a long day.

* * *

Ryo was already awake by the time he heard someone knocking on his front door. He turned off the TV and got off the couch, walking over to the door. He opened it and raised a brow.

"Jehu?"

The smaller bluenette grinned sheepishly. "Hey Ryo." Who did Jehu go to when he was in trouble and/or running from his mom? Ryo of course.

Ryo frowned when he noticed the condition his friend was in. "You're drunk."

"Nuh-uh. I'm already at the hangover part."

He crossed his arms. "You're lucky Sho isn't here, you'd be setting a horrible example."

Jehu cast his gaze down. "I know, I'm sorry."

The other shook his head at him before stepping to the side. "Come in."

"Thanks."

Jehu walked into the house he'd come to know so well since middle school and was going to go to the kitchen to get some water when Ryo stopped him.

"Shower."

"But I didn't bring any clothes with me," He turned to look at him.

Ryo crossed his arms over his chest as he leaned against the wall outside the kitchen and in front of Jehu. "You smell like weed, alcohol and some other things that I'm sure are illegal."

Jehu nodded absentmindedly as he remembered the party. He blinked out of his quick reverie and grinned. "Relax, I only drank."

Eyes rolled. "Upstairs."

"I don't have any clothes," Jehu repeated.

Ryo pointed up the stairs. "That's never stopped you before. Go look through my clothes when you're done."

"Alright." He knew he wasn't going to win against the older bluenette, but he still tried.

As Jehu trudged up the stairs, the other called him.

"Have you eaten breakfast?"

"No but," Jehu's hands suddenly flew to his mouth. "I think I'm gonna hurl." He ran the rest of the way up the stairs and slammed the door to the bathroom shut, leaving a slightly disappointed Ryo to sigh in the kitchen.

Fifteen minutes later, Jehu came down the stairs, sporting one of Ryo's old black t-shirts he'd found deep in his closet and faded blue jeans that he'd found as well. Both fit him pretty well.

The other bluenette looked at his attire and nodded. "Didn't know I still had those clothes…" He muttered. "Anyway, I made breakfast. Think you can handle it?"

Jehu got out a glass from the cabinets and got himself some water. "Dunno. My head's still spinning."

Ryo whacked the back of his head making Jehu choke a bit on his water. "Hey!" "Did that help?"

Frowning, Jehu rubbed the sore spot on his head. Man, Jehu felt bad for Edo for putting up with this sort of thing for so long. But he knew Ryo was going easier on Edo than he did with Jehu when he was drunk. He deserved it. Then again, Edo did also deserve them after all the stupid things that come out of his mouth. "No." He glanced at the table and saw some food placed for him and Ryo. "Where's Sho?"

"He and our parents went to visit some relatives for the weekend."

Jehu nodded and walked out of the kitchen to take a seat in front of the plate with the less amount of food, knowing that was meant for him. "So, you got the house all to yourself then?" He grinned up at Ryo, giving him a look that spelled out pure trouble for the older senior should he decide to let him talk him into something.

Rolling his eyes, he said flatly, "Don't even think about it."

Jehu chuckled. "Of course not…"

"You know, you're lucky the drinking age here is eighteen."

"Hmm… meh. I probably would've started drinking anyway even if it was twenty-one."

A couple minutes of comfortable silence passed before Ryo spoke. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to know who Edo's crushing on, do you?"

Jehu looked up at him with a raised brow. "Edo likes someone?"

Ryo shrugged. "Apparently. Won't tell us who though, and he ran away before I could get it out of him."

Jehu laughed. That sounded like something Edo would do. "Well, whoever it is, I wish them luck." Ryo chuckled and the two continued to eat.

As they ate, well as Ryo ate normally and Jehu ate slowly not wanting to puke again, the older senior watched the younger one with a calculating gaze.

Not looking up from his breakfast, Jehu poked at his food. "I can feel you staring, you know."

He didn't lift his gaze and instead put his fork down. "Jehu—"

"I know, I know. 'How many times have I told you you're fucking up your life by drinking yourself six feet under? You're throwing your life away and it's barely even started! Do you know what this does to the people that care about you? You should know better!' And then I reply with 'I know, I'm sorry, I'll try to change,'" Jehu took a drink of his water. "I've heard it all before, Ryo. From you guys and my mom. Thanks for the pep talk." He stood up but Ryo did as well, looking down at the other senior with a stern look. He didn't know why he did it, but Jehu sighed and sat back down, preparing himself to hear another lecture.

"Alright, I won't lecture you."

Jehu looked up at him curiously.

"But I will call you an idiot."

Johan nodded, not wanting to argue with the truth.

"Jehu, when is this going to stop? You weren't an alcoholic at the start of senior year, but this started before the Haou thing."

The amber eyed senior tensed a bit at the name. He met Ryo's eyes. "I don't know. And I'm not an alcoholic. I _can _control my drinking," at this, Ryo raised a brow. "Contrary to what other people think." He finished, waiting for the other to continue with his non-lecture.

"Jehu, you're dealing with your hangovers in school." The other bluenette opened his mouth to speak but Ryo cut him off. "And don't even _try _to tell me otherwise, Jehu. I have eyes, I can _see _you look miserable half the time, and the other half, you're not even in school. I don't even know how you're passing all of your classes."

The senior with a hangover in question bit the inside of his lower lip while staring at Ryo, waiting for the permission to defend himself. It was silly, Jehu knew, to have to ask for permission to talk, but Ryo was his closest friend and had been for years. It meant something to him when his friend had stuck by him even when he was at his worst, like when he was drunk or hung over. Ryo nodded and Jehu spoke.

"Ok, so maybe I'm drinking a little too much," he ignored Ryo's scoff, "but like I said, I have _control_. I _know _what I'm doing."

"Then enlighten me."

Jehu didn't respond. He looked down at his not even half eaten meal, knowing that it wasn't good for him to leave so much food, but he didn't think he could stomach much more right now and stood up. "Thanks for the food, Ryo. I'll give you back your clothes at school or something. I'll go get my clothes and I'll leave."

Ryo stepped in front of him. Jehu looked up at him and sometimes he really hated the height advantage Ryo had over him. He didn't dare say a word and just waited until Ryo told him what he wanted to say.

"Don't screw this up."

Jehu raised a brow, having only heard that comment from one other person. He opened his mouth to speak but Ryo walked past him and into the kitchen.

"Don't worry about your clothes, I'll give them to you later. See you at school."

The younger senior watched his friend come back out of the kitchen and pick up their plates before going over to put them in the sink.

Jehu nodded to himself and decided to let himself out. He briefly looked back and saw Ryo wasn't looking at him. "Ryo?"

Blue eyes looked up in question but didn't say anything.

"I… Thanks. And I'm sorry."

Ryo kept his eyes on him but gave a small nod to show he had acknowledged him. "I hope you know what you're doing."

Jehu didn't answer him and instead opened the door and closed it behind him. He leaned against the door for a bit before shaking his head and making his way away from there. He didn't know where to, but he didn't care as long as he wasn't at home.

He just hoped he didn't get lost somewhere.

* * *

Haou didn't even know where he was anymore. He knew he wasn't lost, he'd eventually find something that he recognized and he'd be able to guide himself from there, but at the moment, he had no clue which part of the city he was in.

The only thing was he wished he had a car. He knew what a hassle cars can be, and when he was sixteen, he didn't want his parents to buy him a car. Haou felt that it wasn't necessary.

_What the hell was I thinking?_

But he didn't want one until he had a job and could pay for his own car, that way he wouldn't have to depend on his parents. Unfortunately, in the rare cases he went job hunting, he never got the job because he was told he had a kind of scary and blasé personality that wouldn't go well with his coworkers and all that.

_I wonder if I went back to those interviews now, would they still say the same thing? _He sighed. _Of course not, now they'll see I'm really an emotional wreck. And this wouldn't have happened if…_

He didn't finish that thought as he looked around him, finally taking notice of the other people walking out in the streets so early in the morning.

There were… couples. Couples everywhere.

Several were holding hands, some were just kissing and there were some that were holding the other up against a wall while kissing like crazy.

Haou frowned. All of the couples were boy/girl couples, none were of the same sex.

_Ughh, I know this is stupid. There must be same sex couples everywhere, I just don't see them._

It wasn't that Haou was homophobic. He didn't mind other people, but it was different when it was him. He just couldn't be. He couldn't wrap his mind around that sort of thing.

Haou sighed as he continued down the streets, looking at the shops and businesses and people around him. No one he recognized and still nothing that stood out to him.

_I just wish my soul mate would've been a girl, then I'm sure I wouldn't be feeling like this, we wouldn't have fought and everything would be good in the world._

And yet there was a strange thought in his head, asking him whether it would really be alright, wondering how Jehu would be feeling with someone else as his other half.

_Probably happy…_

He was completely lost in his thoughts, so he never prepared for what happened when he turned a corner.

CRASH!

"Sorry, I wasn't looking where I was—you! You stalker!" Haou exclaimed as soon as he stood up from the ground and saw just who exactly he had crashed into.

The bluenette steadied himself a bit before raising a brow. His soul mate was not someone he expected to have an encounter with outside of school. "Stalker? I'm not stalking you!"

Haou frowned and made to walk passed him but the bluenette spoke again.

"So that's it?"

The brunette frowned. "What's it?" He turned around to lock his gold eyes into amber ones that looked at him with slight incredulity.

"You call me a stalker then walk away? You won't talk to me?"

"Why should I? I have no obligation to—"

Jehu interrupted the angered senior. "We're soul mates."

Haou looked at him in disbelief. "I don't give a damn! I refuse to be paired up with you!"

The bluenette narrowed his eyes at him, but stayed in his spot, about a meter from the two-toned brunette. "And why's that?"

The other was in no mood to argue today, not with his head feeling like he'd been pounding it up against the wall for the last three days straight. "Because I don't know you!" He waved his arms around as he continued. "I don't like you! I don't _want_ you!"

Jehu frowned at him. He would have rather they have this conversation when he didn't feel like someone drove a sledgehammer through his whole body, but it looked like it couldn't be helped. "Because I'm a guy."

It wasn't a question but Haou still answered. "Because you're you!"

Amber eyes narrowed at Haou. "You can't say that when not a minute ago you were saying that you don't even know me."

Haou crossed his arms over his chest, refusing to let Jehu's gaze intimidate him. "Like you're one to talk! Since that day I haven't seen you try to go talk to me!"

"I was giving you space! I was giving you time!" Jehu shot.

"I don't need it! I don't need your pity."

Jehu stared at him in mild shock. "It's not pity! Yes I was surprised to find out I'm gay! Yes I fainted just like you did at the shrine because of that! Yes I thought the priest was on crack, but I came to terms with all this! Whether or not we like it, we're supposed to make each other happy!"

Too bad neither saw that in their immediate future.

Haou regarded him with silence for a few seconds before he spoke again, his voice still holding anger. "Then why can't you see that I'm not? I'm not happy!"

Jehu dropped his anger and let Haou continue.

The brunette looked away from him so Jehu wouldn't be able to see the emotions running through his eyes. "I'm not happy, ok? I don't like surprises! I don't like not knowing what's going to happen to me! I don't like not being in control of who I am and how my emotions are! Ever since that day, I don't know myself anymore! I liked being with you that day at the nurse's office, yes but once lunch came around, I felt all this was being rushed!"

Jehu opened his mouth to speak but Haou cut him off.

"No! I was scared of this, scared of you and scared of myself. I'm so confused right now and I don't want you to suddenly feel as though you need to take care of me!"

Jehu rolled his eyes. "I'm supposed to!" He reached a hand out to him then stopped when he saw Haou flinch and step back.

"Fine. Forget it. I hope you find your happiness with someone else." Jehu turned around and walked away, leaving Haou very much like right after their date at school.

Haou refused to watch him leave so he turned around and continued walking, hoping to get somewhere far away from there.

The small crowd that had gone unnoticed until then slowly started to go back to what they were doing, still wondering what was going on.

* * *

Both Vergil and Isamu were in a plane, halfway done with their trip to another city where they were to have a meeting with a couple other companies that could be very beneficial for Asenko Industries.

Everything had been going along smoothly during the ride, except for the beginning when the two found out they had to sit next to each other, but other than that, everything was going well.

Until the two just shared a glance and began throwing punches.

The stewardesses there were confused as to why the fight started and couldn't seem to be able to pull them apart.

Nearby passengers were watching the two, wondering what the hell had gotten into them.

Honestly, neither Isamu nor Vergil knew what was going on, but there was just a feeling they both got to tear the other's eyes out, or at least send him to the hospital.

It was like the other had done something to hurt their family, if the tugging at their hearts meant anything.

Neither knew that was pretty close to the truth.

* * *

Seira was sitting at the food court at the mall when she felt the urge to look around. It was almost as if she was expecting someone or something to pop out at her. Frowning, she glanced around the area. There was nothing that seemed like it was a danger for her or anything.

Her eyes went wide.

_Haou…_

She gathered her things and threw out her unfinished food before leaving the mall as quickly as she could and head on home.

It wasn't like she felt as though Haou was in any sort of danger or trouble, but her mother's instinct told her to go to her son. As she drove, she hoped Haou had stayed at home.

_I hope nothing bad has happened…_

* * *

Sparkle stared in question at Reiko who suddenly stopped playing with her.

"That idiot son of mine has done something stupid again." She muttered as she stood up and dropped the hot dog chew toy she had been tossing at Sparkle who tossed it back.

The dog tilted her head to the side a bit, as if asking Reiko to elaborate, but the purplette simply blinked out of her reverie and smiled down at the rottweiler.

"Don't worry, everything will work out in the end for him." She petted Sparkle's head and the dog barked happily at her.

Reiko stared out of the window closest to her with a raised brow. _Everything will work out, even if it doesn't seem like it. Hopefully._

* * *

**Monkey: Ok um... nobody hurt me! Dx I wanted to have these two fight again just because I was wondering how it would turn out, and I didn't want to rush them straight into a relationship like I normally do with my other stories, so I hope this was alright... I hope it wasn't too bad x.x**

**Oh and Edo's crush is still a mystery xD You guys can still tell me who you want him to be with, but so far, things look like they'll be going in a certain direction xD Thank you to all of those who gave me their opinions! I really appreciate it! x3**

**See you guys later!**


	7. Realization

**Monkey: Whoo! I managed to updated today! XD I didn't think I would! XD Oh right, I own nothing!**

**So in this chapter, we still don't find out who Edo likes, but it'll come up soon, don't worry ;D**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Seira nearly jumped out of her car as soon as she hit the brakes. Unlocking the front door, she looked around the living room first.

"Haou?" She called out. "Sweetie?"

When she didn't receive an answer, she made her way up the stairs. There was a faint smell of coffee in the air so at least her son was awake, or had been.

His door was locked.

"Haou?" Seira knocked softly.

Silence.

She sighed. "Haou, I know you're there. Are you alright?"

Her reply was a faint sniff.

Gold eyes went wide. He was crying? But Haou hadn't cried since he was a small child! And even then, it was very limited. "Honey, can you open the door?"

She waited patiently for him to do so, completely ignoring the fact that she could probably force the door open. But that wouldn't make things any better for them at the moment.

There was a shuffling sound heard before a light click reached her ears.

She didn't touch the doorknob until she heard him walk away from the door. She was worried about him, yes, but she knew that he would rather not have to face her so soon. Seira quietly opened the door and stepped inside. Her gold eyes landed on the figure of her son who was sitting on the chair by the window, his face turned away from her.

"Haou?"

"I'm fine."

His voice was cold, surprising her and keeping her from going forward. Just what the hell had happened?

Haou sniffed again and moved a hand to rub at his eyes.

Patience be damned.

Seira walked over to the brunette and pulled him into her arms. "Haou, talk to me."

He didn't. But he didn't pull away from her either.

She held him for some time, rubbing soothing circles on his back. She didn't know why that always seemed to work, but she was glad it did.

"Mom?" he finally called out.

"Yeah?"

"Am I... not supposed to be happy?"

The quiet, shaky voice made her frown. "Not happy? Haou, everyone is supposed to be happy. It's one of the few things we're guaranteed in life. It may sometimes seem like we're living through hell, or that things just keep getting worse and worse for us, but tomorrow's another day. At some point, everyone will be happy." She pulled away from him a bit and looked at his face. He quickly looked down to avoid her gaze. "What brought this up? Haou, what happened?"

"... Nothing."

"Haou, don't lie to me. Now tell me what happened."

He looked up at her, his eyes misting from the tears pooling in his eyes. He felt so stupid for crying over Jehu and especially in front of his mother. This was exactly what he meant! He never would've done half the things he did in the last couple of weeks if it hadn't been for his so-called soul mate!

Feeling his mother staring down at him, Haou finally sighed and began telling her the whole story, not exaggerating one bit of it, making sure he was as accurate as possible. No need to make mountains out of molehills. Although, with the tears, he might've already done that.

Seira kept quiet the entire time and listened to every word he said. She nodded when Haou finished, and gave a small sigh. "Oh Haou, you both are so confused."

He raised a brow at her. "Both?"

Smiling sadly, she continued. "You two are just... unsure of how to display your feelings about each other. And you don't know what to do to make all this work." She ignored Haou's disbelieving stare. "I mean, every couple has their spats, so I'm not faulting you guys for it but, I think the both of you need to just sit down and talk it all out."

"But mom, that's just it. We're not even a couple. And I don't think sitting down and talking about this would help."

"Are you sure? You've already yelled at each other and gone to blows, I don't think there's that much more you two can do before talking is your only option." She sat down on his bed and he followed suit, sitting down across from her. "Although, this whole soul mate thing has gone out of hand. You two are killing yourselves over not being able to be with each other that you don't even realize it and you're setting up barriers for each other."

Haou opened his mouth to speak but she shook her head.

"Let me finish. Yes, you two are supposed to be together and supposed to be happy, but that doesn't mean it has to start _now_. You guys could get to know each other better first before you start jumping into anything. Maybe then you guys would find out why exactly the fates thought about putting you two together."

Haou kept silent. His mom was right. The both of them had thought that by seeing the red string of fate, it meant they were tied together from that day forth. They probably were, Haou wasn't so sure of the technicalities, but they weren't chained to each other. They could try again and take their time.

_Fine. Forget it. I hope you find your happiness with someone else._

Or maybe not.

Haou sniffed again and wiped at his eyes. Maybe they both had been a little too harsh with each other. But Jehu didn't have to say that to him! Haou wasn't even giving up on his soul mate! He just had no idea what to do!

_And neither does Jehu…_

"Look, I've never met your soul mate, but it sounded to me like he was trying," Seira spoke again, pulling Haou out of his thoughts.

_You're taking his side_, Haou thought.

She smiled. "I know it may seem like it, but I'm not taking his side."

_Damn the telepathy all mother's seem to have. _

"But I'm not saying I'm taking your side either. You both were out of line and you need to go and apologize to each other and talk things out." She clapped her hand on Haou's knee, smiling. "So, wanna go get something to eat?"

"I can't go out like this..." Haou began.

Seira stood up and held out a hand for him. "Nonsense. You look just as adorable as you always do."

Haou furrowed his brows together and crossed his arms over his chest. "Now I'm definitely not going."

"We'll get some of that iced coffee you like so much."

He took her hand and looked up at her. "Thanks mom."

"No problem. Now let's go!" Laughing, she dragged him out of his room and out of the house.

As she drove, she let her thoughts wander to her son and his soul mate. She grinned. Who would've thought her son would be caught up in a roller coaster of mishaps?

"Mom look out for that tree!"

"Whoa!" She quickly got them out of harm's way and she grinned sheepishly. "My bad."

Haou shook his head.

At least there was still a sense of normalcy in his life.

* * *

Reiko dropped her plate when Jehu stormed into the house and started slamming doors. "What the…?"

Jehu raced up the stairs and she could hear Sparkle barking up a hell storm.

Those two really haven't quite gotten along yet.

Amber eyes sent a glare so full of rage that even Sparkle stopped barking.

This worried Reiko. Ignoring the shards around the kitchen floor, she ran out of there and raced up the stairs. "Jehu!"

A door slamming shut was her only answer.

Sparkle whimpered and Reiko bent down to pet her a bit before stepping over her chains and pounding on the door. "Jehu! Open this door! What the hell is going on with you?"

"Nothing! Leave me the fuck alone." The last part was mumbled, but Jehu had no doubt that his mother would be able to hear it.

She raised a brow. Oh there was definitely something going on, she wasn't stupid. Maybe her earlier feeling had been right.

"Jehu?" She called out a little softer. "What happened?"

"Nothing." He repeated. "Just leave me alone."

Reiko frowned. "Did you and Haou have another spat?"

"No!" His immediate response let Reiko understand what happened. "No. Please, don't ask me anything about him either."

Well there was something definitely up. She inwardly cursed when she remembered that she had no way of contacting his soul mate. Hell, her son didn't even know his last name, what hope did she have of contacting him?

"Fine. But I thought I'd let you know that I spoke to your father. He wants to have a word with you later tonight. He's staying in the next city over for a couple of nights but he's going to be calling you."

"He can try." Jehu replied.

"What do you mean?"

"I lost my cell like a month ago. I don't need it so I figured I didn't need to tell you about it. Now, if he wants to talk to me, fine. But until then, can I please just rest?"

Reiko shook her head at the first bit of information. That idiot. No wonder he never picked up. Although she stopped trying to get into contact with him like that after a week. But she gave in and sighed. "Alright. I'll come back later."

"Hn."

Reiko turned back to Sparkle and unchained her. "Come on, Sparkle, let's go for a walk." The dog barked happily and let her owner guide her around with the chains.

With one last look at her son's door, she frowned and walked down the stairs, careful not to trip over the dog.

Jehu on the other hand, was lying facedown on his bed. God, that little spat between him and Haou could not have gone worse.

Ok, so maybe it could have, but at the moment, he didn't want to think about that.

But he had to wonder if they had meant every word to each other.

Jehu knew better than anyone that he could be a real ass when he was drunk or in a terrible hangover. His post-drunk state hadn't been so bad earlier, but at the moment, he couldn't be sure.

He rolled over onto his back and closed his eyes. "Why him? Did Fate and Love decide to screw two people over? After all this, they can't possibly think that this will still work out, we're moving too…" His eyes widened. "Fast… Fuck."

Bringing his hands up to clutch at his hair and closing his eyes tightly, he cursed colorfully, but softly, in case his mother could hear him. He doubted it, but he didn't want her to think he was going to do something stupid again.

"Ugh." Jehu lowered his hands and frowned. He opened his eyes and let his thoughts attack him.

They had been going too fast.

Well, at least he had. He had been the one to push Haou, who he couldn't even see was suffering from all this. He was so confused.

And Jehu hadn't made it any better.

But the question was, should he apologize?

Could he?

And would that make a difference?

After leaving Haou with that last line, he doubted the other would forgive him, much less want to see him.

But he would lose much more if he didn't try.

"I hate you, Fate, Love. But at least you guys give me an interesting life." He glared up at his painted ceiling with mild irritation, then he sighed and closed his eyes.

He meant when he said he wanted some rest.

Maybe he could see his soul mate in his dreams, happy, even if it wasn't with him.

* * *

Haou held his head as he walked. The sheer amount of noise as he made his way through the school's entrance was nearly tripled in his ears. His headache was making the tiniest little shuffle sound like some kind of explosion, and it seemed like it liked it.

Gold eyes closed as he silently cursed. There was just no end to his constant, irritating pain!

Why was he cursed with it all? Had he been a bad person in a previous life?

He gave a small sigh as he walked by his locker and into a maze of open hallways.

A crazy mother, a stoic father, a guy for a soul mate and migraines from hell.

Haou stopped walking abruptly. He looked around and noticed he had walked in the completely opposite direction.

_Damn, I'm losing it._

He was about to turn around when something suddenly caught his attention.

Near the end of the hallway that led to a flight of stairs, standing casually up against a set of silver lockers, was Jehu.

_I wonder if now would be the time to…_

His thoughts were cut short when a girl nearly came out of nowhere and hugged the bluenette tightly.

"Jehu!" She managed to exclaim loud enough for Haou to hear her.

_What the…_

Haou narrowed his gold eyes slightly at the sight. Who was she and why wasn't Jehu pushing her away?

A flicker of shock ran through his eyes when he saw Jehu, who had looked really surprised mere moments ago, now smiled widely and hugged the small brunette girl just as tight.

They seemed… happy.

A string of jealously pulled at Haou when he saw those two pull apart only enough so they could face each other.

Haou couldn't believe it.

Jehu had told him to go find happiness with someone else only two days ago. But Haou never thought Jehu would act so quickly!

And to think that he wanted to try to talk to him again.

His vision blurred faintly and he forced himself to turn on his heels and walk away, in the direction of his first period.

Fine then, if Jehu wanted any part in this soul mate business, then he would have to come to him first.

* * *

Haou felt like absolute shit. His head was killing him and like he's always known, no matter how many pills he takes, none took the pain away anymore.

He was beginning to wonder if he had taken too many pills in his short life that now his body adapted to the pills and no longer took effect. Maybe they would never work again! Maybe he was doomed to have a headache forever! Maybe he would end up dying of a headache!

Ok, so maybe he was overreacting.

But damn, he wanted nothing more than to clutch his head, curl up into a ball on his nice and comfortable bed and wait until the pain died, or at least faded.

He sighed and knew that was never going to happen. Not in the middle of class anyway.

His thoughts drifted to the day where he had sat in Jehu's arms, in the infirmary.

He had been so—

_No._

_No. No. No._

He would not think about Jehu like that.

Haou bit back a groan as the pain in his head increased and shifted from his left side to behind his eyes.

God, just thinking about him made his headache worse.

He let out a slow breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding and tried to focus on his teacher.

Having a migraine sucked.

* * *

Jehu frowned in boredom as he laid down on the beds in the nurse's office. Mieko-san had left for a moment, an emergency of some sort that she could only treat outside the office and left Jehu in charge.

Ok, so maybe she threatened to experiment certain poisons on him without him knowing if he screwed around in her office, but it was the same thing for Jehu.

He just had to make sure to treat anyone who came in there and get them out as soon as he could, he could only stay there for so long.

Right now he was alone in that room, and had been for the last twenty minutes. There was still a half hour left before class ended, but for Jehu it felt a lot longer.

_Haou… _

He wondered what the other was doing, and half wished for him to appear there, like that time when they had their first encounter after the shrine.

Like that time when he held him in his arms.

The bluenette shook his head briefly before closing his eyes. At least no one would be able to sneak up on him, the door was closed and he would be able to hear it. It was supposed to always be open, but since the nurse wasn't there, he figured it would be alright. It wasn't for the students so much as for Jehu himself. If he fell asleep and Mieko-san showed up, the sound of the door opening would wake him up and he wouldn't have to fear for his life for a few precious seconds.

And people said Mieko-san was super nice and sweet.

_My ass._

She just seemed to have a personal vendetta against him.

But oh well, it made things interesting and that was good enough for Jehu.

The soft ticking of the clock on the wall next to him ended up lulling him to sleep minutes later.

* * *

It was third period and Haou was feeling worse than he had in the morning. His skin felt hot to the touch and he was sweating a bit in the cold rooms. His vision was a little blurry and he felt lightheaded.

_Great. I'm gonna die in school. Wonderful. _

But it was third period. And he did not want to see the nurse right now.

_I can… I can hold out for another period._

He knew Jehu was a student aide there, and he did not want to see him at the moment. Especially in his condition.

His teacher noticed his flushed face and frowned. "Haou?" She called out, lowering the book in her hands. "Are you alright? Do you need to go to the nurse's office?"

He looked up at her, gold eyes clouded. He nodded slowly. "I'm fine."

She shook her head. "Haou, you don't look alright." She went to her desk and signed out a nurse's pass. "Go to the nurse's office, you can get caught up later."

She walked over to him and gave him the paper. He reached out grudgingly and took it.

A girl sitting next to him spoke in a timid voice, barely able to reach Haou's ears. "D-do you need help getting to the nurse?"

Haou shook his head and didn't even offer her a glance. He stood up, gathered his things as best as he could, frowning when he dropped a book and left the room.

If the teacher thought he looked bad and kicked him out, he really had no choice.

_But I don't like it._

He swayed a bit as he walked down the hallway, then carefully stepped down the stairs. A couple times he had to stop when his vision swam and he felt himself go forward a little.

He made it on solid ground in a moment and he looked around, trying to remember which way the nurse's office was.

_Was it right? I think it was right…_

He went right and hit the dean's office.

_I… knew it was left._

He slowly walked down the open hallway, leaning a hand against the concrete wall as he went along to stay balanced.

_Concrete walls? What a cheap school._

If only he was able to remember what he learned back in freshman studies, that someone who built prisons built that school.

Talk about irony.

He finally reached the infirmary and frowned when he saw the door was closed. That door was one of the heaviest in the school for some reason.

I'm gonna fall against it.

Shaking his head, he grabbed the doorknob and turned it, pushing the door forward.

Jehu was woken up by the sound of the door opening. A quick glance at the clock showed he'd been out for almost ten minutes.

Sitting up, he jumped off the bed and walked towards the hall.

Amber eyes went wide when he saw Haou there, looking up at him with a confused glance.

"Jehu… I don't feel so well…" And that was all he said before his vision went black and he collapsed forward.

The bluenette hurried and caught him before he hit the ground. When he felt the other's forehead against his chest, he could feel Haou had a fever.

_Damn it, he's burning up._

He let Haou drop his things and since the other was out cold, he placed one arm around his shoulders and the other under his knees to pick him up.

Had he been awake, he might've glared at him and squirmed out of his grasp for carrying him in such a way, but at the moment, Jehu was spared the profanities.

Or maybe he wouldn't be mad at him.

Jehu took him to the bed he had previously slept in and gently laid him down.

"Haou?" He placed the back of his hand against the brunette's forehead and cursed.

Where the hell did that scary witch hide the thermometer on me?

He searched around the place and found it then put it in Haou's mouth.

Softly, he reached out and brushed Haou's sweaty hair out of his eyes. His breathing was heavy and Jehu was wondering if it was really alright for him to take care of the brunette. He should probably wait for the nurse to show up, but Haou might get worse until then.

Jehu gave a small dry chuckle. "And to think I was kind of hoping you'd come here so we could talk about what happened, but instead you come here because you're dying." The thermometer beeped and Jehu pulled it out of his mouth.

He frowned when he saw the numbers staring back at him.

The option for waiting was thrown out the window.

He searched around the place and began getting the things he would need to calm Haou's fever down.

At one point, Haou's fever finally began to die down a bit, and by then, Jehu was sitting by his side, holding Haou's hand, soothingly rubbing his thumb against the back of his hand. The other hadn't woken up since he got there and Jehu was only glad that he seemed like he was getting better now.

Mieko-san finally returned towards the end of sixth period. She had treated the kid that had fainted in class back in third period quickly, but before she could return to her room, she received a call telling her that her mother was in the hospital, so she went to go see her.

As it turned out, she was out of the danger zone and Mieko-san returned to work as soon as she could.

When she returned, she was surprised to find a note from Jehu taped onto her office door and a sleeping Haou as the only person there.

_You're lucky. Haou was the only person to come to the nurse's office after you left. I'm leaving now, in the middle of sixth period, because Haou's finally fine and I think I'm going to ditch school altogether now since I basically ditched anyway. Don't tell him I took care of him. Jehu._

Mieko-san smiled at the note, even though she would never catch herself smiling like that in front of the bluenette.

_Boys_. She thought with a shake of her head.

Haou began stirring on the bed and he opened his eyes, narrowing them slightly when he saw where he was, then widening them when he felt much better than he had before.

"Nice to see you're well."

Haou's thoughts momentarily went to the sight of the surprised bluenette when he first walked in there. But he saw no traces of him now.

When he looked at the clock, he saw why.

School would be over in about fifteen minutes. There was no reason for him to stay there that long anyway.

Haou looked up at the nurse and nodded once. "Thank you for taking care of me."

She crumbled the note in her hand behind her back and smiled. "I didn't do anything, I just got here." Screw what Jehu wanted, even though she did owe him. She lived that year for screwing with him. "It was all Jehu. He took care of you the whole time. In fact, he just left a little while ago, when he noticed you were fine."

Gold eyes were shocked. Jehu had taken care of him? Even after everything that's happened?

"Really?"

"Really. Now, you better get your things and start going on home, unless you want to go back to class."

She picked up the thermometer and stuck it in his mouth when he opened it to reply. It beeped moments later and she nodded when Haou had the perfect temperature.

Mieko-san hated to admit it, but Jehu did a good job.

Haou gathered his things at a calm pace, all the while thinking about his soul mate.

_I wonder why he did it…_

As he left, he never noticed the knowing look on Mieko-san's face.

_Oh, these two are fun to watch._

* * *

**Monkey: Why yes, this story is finally going to get a move on :D And yes, that part of the school being built by someone who builds prison is true. XD Cookee's and my high school was built by someone who builds prisons! Isn't that great? Takes "school prison" to a whole new level! DX**

**I know it seems like I skipped through the nurse's office scene really quickly, but I didn't want it to seem like all those other stories and shows and all that that have that kind of a scene, so I just rushed through it, sorry Dx **

**So, are Haou and Jehu finally going to get together? Who the hell was that girl that hugged Jehu? Is she a love interest? Will I put these two through more Hell? Will I update again soon? ****Well I can answer the last two. Maybe and Maybe xD **

**I'm going to be gone for a week or so, since I'm going on vacation to California and possibly Mexico again :D Whoo! But I'll try to update again before I leave, if not, then I'll update as soon as I get back, whenever that is. xD **

**And whoo! We're officially past the halfway point of the story! XDD **

**Hope you guys liked it! And whoo for really long author's notes! XDD**


	8. Making an Effort

**Monkey: FINALLY~! I update! XD **

**No, I didn't forget about this story, I'm sorry I took so long though! X_x **

**Ahhhh, blame school with it's shitload of homework and tests... **

**This chapter was... complicated. It was hard to write, and you'll see why... I hope it didn't come out as bad as I thought, though... n.n;;**

**Well, I hope you guys like it! If not then... I'll redo this chapter ehehehe... n.n;**

* * *

Haou let his eyes fall on to the beautiful picture drawn on the wall, getting the urge to reach out a hand to touch it. "It's... amazing." The cherry blossom tree was painted along the side of a lake, the night sky bringing in more beauty to the picture. Each cherry blossom was detailed with soft colors, the lake was a gentle shade of cerulean, a few of the flowers lightly floating on top of the water, decorating the blue with faint pink.

The painting began along the ground and went all the way up to the ceiling.

He couldn't believe Jehu was such a great artist.

Jehu gave a soft sound of content. "Thank you."

"It must've taken you a long time to do this," Haou reached out, then stopped, suddenly getting the feeling that touching it might somehow ruin its beauty.

Jehu stood next to Haou with a kind look on his face. This was probably why everyone kept telling him to not mess anything up, this side of Haou that he had yet to see, it was drawing him in, much like his painting was doing with Haou. "Only took about a week," his amber eyes went to the corner of the painting that had his messy signature and date of completion; he had done that painting about three years ago, "everyday after school I would work on it for hours on end to relieve some stress that finals had thrown at me. You can touch it, you know."

With a small blush at being caught giving away by the slightly teasing tone, Haou nodded and carefully placed his hand onto the picture. It wasn't as smooth a surface as the picture made it look. Jehu must really be amazing with a paintbrush to have made a picture turn out like this on a less than smooth surface.

So where were they and why were they talking and actually getting along as opposed to fighting and not wanting to see the other's face?

That would be best answered by going back a few hours.

* * *

A sigh escaped the lips of a brunette as he took a seat at a park bench, away from the noises of the city. The park was surprisingly empty, but he couldn't complain, he preferred it that way. Haou hadn't been there any more than twice, but each time, that park proved to be the perfect place to relax when he felt he couldn't feel peace at home. Gold eyes gazed lazily up into the sky, taking the time to notice the little things.

The sky was a faint blue. Little wisps of white decorated the heavens every so often. In the distance, lavender and rose streaks highlighted the sky before the darkness set. There was a light breeze making the green leaves on the surrounding trees to dance to an unheard song. Other than that, there was no movement in the outside world. He was alone.

Leaning back, Haou let his eyes close, hoping for a moment of rest for a little while before he had to go back home, otherwise he could get lost.

He didn't know how long he'd been like that, but a couple of voices woke him up. One he could recognize anywhere and the other he'd heard only once before, two days ago. His eyes opened when the voices got closer.

"... Haou," the voice he recognized the most spoke softly to him, stopping only a few feet from him.

Gold and amber eyes locked in a silent gaze.

Jehu wasn't alone. He was with that girl Haou had seen talk to Jehu the day he got sick, and she wasn't alone either, she was holding a baby that oddly enough, looked a lot like her. She wasn't any older than maybe six or so months.

The brunette's thoughts raced. Who was she? What was she doing with Jehu? What were they doing there at the park? And who was the baby and why did she look like that girl?

The girl stared at Haou thoughtfully, tilting her head to the side a bit. She was beautiful really, maybe she was Jehu's girlfriend? The baby in her arms played with her long ebony hair, dark eyes happy as the baby giggled endlessly. Her lavender eyes held a question, but Haou didn't know what that was.

Before he could think on that anymore, sudden realization spread across her face, her eyes nearly glowing with it.

Jehu looked down at the ground before looking up to see the girl. "Kayako, I'll see you later, alright?"

She smiled and nodded, her earlier reaction gone. Haou vaguely wondered what she had discovered. "Good luck." She gave him a hug with one arm and stepped back. The baby giggled and waved. Jehu smiled at the both of them and watched them leave, Kayako talking and laughing with the baby.

Haou made to get up and leave but Jehu's voice reached him.

"Haou, we need to talk."

Those were the dreaded words almost every couple feared.

Only, what was there to fear if the two weren't a couple?

Silent gold eyes stared.

The bluenette ran a hand over his hair and sighed. "Look, other day when I saw you at the nurse's office, I—"

"... Who is she?" He inwardly cursed. Why had his voice sounded like that? He didn't want Jehu to think he was sad that the bluenette had already found someone else. It wasn't like he _wanted _him anyway. He didn't expect Jehu to find someone so fast, but it _was _his life, he could do what he wished with it.

Jehu stared at him before nodding once. "That's Kayako. The baby was Naoko."

Haou nodded in reply. So at least he had names. "Is she... is she your—"

"Girlfriend? No, she's someone who I haven't seen since elementary school, that baby is her little sister. She was my best friend back then, but she moved across the country, it's only recently that she came back. We're just trying to catch up for all the things we missed in each other's lives." Jehu didn't know why, but he felt the need to explain everything to Haou, even if he hadn't asked to know.

"O-oh," Haou didn't know what else to say.

The two stared at each other for a few minutes, neither taking their eyes off the other, both trying to read what the other had in his eyes.

"... Thank you."

Jehu quirked a brow and blinked. "For what?"

"For... back then when you took care of me at school."

Jehu mentally cursed Mieko-san briefly before looking back at Haou.

"I'm sorry I was such a bother to you, but thank you for taking the time to take care of me."

"You weren't any bother, really. When I saw the state you were in, then saw you collapse," he didn't want to say in his arms because he wasn't sure whether Haou remembered that or not, and if he didn't, he didn't want to scare him away, "my first thought was to figure out what was wrong, then what I could do to help. I tried my best and I left when I knew you were going to be fine."

"I didn't ask you to spend the whole day with me."

"No, but I wanted to."

Another pause stretched out before them.

What was there to say?

Haou looked up at the sky and frowned when he saw how dark it had gotten. He hadn't meant to fall asleep, but honestly, if he tried to go home now, he might not be able to, he didn't exactly know where to go from there. He bit his lower lip for a bit. "Um, I—"

"Could I walk you home?"

If Haou wasn't shocked, he didn't know what he was. But how would he tell him that he didn't even know where his home was?

"… Actually, I don't really know where my house is... I didn't mean to stay out here too long in case I couldn't find my way back..." He averted his gaze so he wouldn't see Jehu's amusement that would surely surface.

"Then would you like to come to my house?"

He hadn't seen that coming. "Why?"

Jehu looked confused. Did Haou think he _wanted _him to get lost, especially at night like this? It didn't matter if he was a guy and could take care of himself, if something happened to him... "Why what? Why do I want you to come home with me? I think it would just be easier for you."

"Not that." Haou stood up, not liking the way Jehu was making him feel small by staring down at him with that intense amber gaze. He would rather they be closer to eye level. He breathed in deeply before letting out a shaky breath. "Why are you doing this? Why do you keep trying?"

Taking a step back to allow the brunette some space, Jehu thought about his answer. If he answered wrong, or if it could be interpreted the wrong way, he might never get another chance with Haou. If he answered right, maybe he'd get an opportunity. Damn, there were just so many thoughts racing around in his mind, and not one of them seemed to help. "Because... I don't want to mess this up, I don't want us to look back and wonder what would've happened if we had tried something. I think that if given the chance, maybe we can turn into something more than enemies. Maybe not lovers or soul mates, but at least friends. I know it seems like it's too soon, and I know it looks like I'm not really trying, but I am. I've already screwed up most of the things in my life, I… don't want this to be one of them. I don't want to regret something as big as this for the rest of my life."

Haou stood there, not knowing what to say. So what if his heart was racing? So what if he couldn't figure out what his thoughts were trying to say? Jehu didn't want to lose him. He wanted him to be a part of his life, even though Haou was stubborn in his refusal to step past the line of enemies.

Now the question was, did Haou want Jehu in his life? It took him some time to notice that Jehu was expecting a reply. This had to be it, what he said now would determine what would happen next. "… Alright." It didn't sound as special as what Jehu said, but that was fine with the other. He had finally been accepted, at least to the point where they could stand to be near one another.

Jehu smiled and Haou returned a shy one.

And just like that, the delicate tension between them seem to have silently shattered, bringing a calming peace around them.

Things would be different now. They weren't sure if they were going to be for the better or worse, but there was nothing stopping them anymore from finding out.

They could both tell that they would be taking things extremely slowly, but there was nothing wrong with that.

If they were soul mates, they had no reason to rush things.

Leading the way, Jehu began in the direction of his home, walking slowly enough to let Haou stand beside him, and not behind. The last thing Haou would ever need was to feel like he had no choice in what they did. This was Jehu's way of saying to stand by him and just be there.

It wasn't that long before they were standing in front of Jehu's home. Their walk had been one of silence, but the two didn't mind, it wasn't uncomfortable and they didn't really have much to say.

Besides, it seemed they had more than enough time to finally try to get to know each other.

Jehu opened the door and was glad that no one was home at the time; he didn't know how his family would react to all this, nor did he want Haou to get scared off by his insane mother. He turned around and stepped to the side so Haou could enter.

The brunette looked nervous at first, but he gave a small sigh and stepped inside.

An incredible amount of barking suddenly filled the whole house making Haou wince.

Jehu shook his head and looked at Haou with a sheepish expression. "Um, feel free to look around, I'll be right back."

He made sure to close and lock the door once Haou was in the living room and he raced up the stairs.

_Now where did I put the… aha!_

Haou looked around the living room. The walls were all white, but had these beautiful paintings on them, actually painted onto the wall.

There were a couple pictures that were framed, but those were much smaller than the wall images, and Haou only noticed two family portraits.

Both were hanging over the fireplace, right next to each other. Haou could tell the one on the left was much older than the one on the right, because in that picture, Jehu looked to be about five. He looked the same really, just much shorter, with a wider smile and innocent eyes. His mother and father looked happy being there with him, standing under a large tree as they posed happily for the picture, Jehu being held up by his father. The picture on the right had his mother sitting down on a chair with his father standing on her right and Jehu on her left. His parents looked almost exactly the same, his mother having the really only noticeable change, which was having longer hair. In the previous photo it was lightly grazing her shoulders, in this photo, it was down around her waist.

Haou stared at the Jehu in the more recent picture. It looked like it had been taken a year ago at the most. He was smiling, yes, but his smile lost some of the happiness in it, and his eyes changed too; they were no longer as innocent as before. He had to wonder if that's just what the years did to him, or if something happened.

The barking upstairs stopped and he heard Jehu's footsteps coming down the stairs.

He turned around to ask what had happened when he saw Jehu carrying a large, sleeping rottweiler in his arms, a thick chain around its neck trailing harmlessly behind him.

Gold eyes blinked. "Um…?"

"Haou, this is Sparkle, the used-to-be-rabid dog my mom got me." Jehu reached the bottom of the steps and looked at the door. "Could you open it for me? She's tranq'd right now, and she's not exactly safe, so I don't want her in here while you're here."

He was not blushing, he was definitely _not _blushing, damn it. Haou inwardly cursed, he was blushing.

Jehu really cared… even though he started off by showing it in an odd way, but hey, what said 'I care' better than "I tranq'd my dog so you would live to see tomorrow"?

Haou nodded slowly as he opened the door and watched Jehu gently lower the dog then chain her up to the gate in front of the house. He pulled the chain a couple of times to make sure that she wouldn't get loose and gave Haou a smile.

"Now, feel free to do whatever, you're perfectly safe."

Haou walked over to a wall and stared in awe at the picture of a cherry blossom tree by a lake.

* * *

So yes, Haou was with Jehu at his house and they seemed to reach a truce in this… unfortunate dislike.

Jehu took a seat on the couch opposite of that wall. The wall behind Jehu happened to have a gorgeous sunset at the beach. He watched Haou admire his artwork and a sense of pride sparked in him. He was glad that he had managed to surprise Haou like this, it showed that he at least had his attention.

The brunette backed away from the picture and began walking around again, this time heading towards the kitchen, he was curious to see if there were paintings in there too.

He walked inside and screamed.

Jehu shot up from the couch and raced in there. "What happened? What's—ohh, right, I forgot to tell you," Jehu began with a sheepish grin, "My mom likes to hang knives from the ceiling in here, but it's ok! Really! They're perfectly safe!" To show him, Jehu reached up and tugged at one of the many knives literally covering the kitchen ceiling, hanging by thick red ribbons. It didn't come down.

Haou dashed out of the kitchen. Ok, so it didn't matter that the knives were almost two feet from his head, he was _not _going to be back in there again anytime soon if he could help it. "Why does your mom do that?"

Jehu shrugged. "She said it was different."

"I'll say," Haou muttered. Jehu chuckled slightly before walking up to the refrigerator.

"You want something to eat or drink?"

"What do you have?"

"… Nothing edible. Wait…" Jehu poked at something in the fridge then quickly pulled his hand back, as if he was stung, amber eyes blinking in shock. "… Nope, nothing edible. I can make something?" He closed the fridge and raised an expectant brow at the brunette.

"Um, what can you make?"

"… Not much."

Haou sighed. "Are you _sure _those knives are safe?"

"The knives themselves? Hell no, they'll slice right through you, but you'll be fine, they don't fall. Only one has ever fallen, and that's just because my mom wanted to see who would be the unlucky one to be under it at the time."

Haou's eyes went wide. "And who was the one under it?"

"Me, but it only grazed me, no worries." Jehu grinned and Haou felt just a little fearful for his safety.

But if Jehu was walking in there so calmly, it couldn't be that bad.

"Could I make something?"

Jehu stepped aside and smiled. "Go right ahead."

Haou nodded but gave his mom a quick call before starting to make some food. She didn't pick up, so he just left her a message saying he would be spending the night with a friend.

_Yeah, I can only imagine her reaction when she finds out just who my _friend _is..._

An hour later, Jehu was staring in awe.

Maybe he could draw well, but _damn_, Haou could _cook_.

Although Jehu couldn't identify most of what was in the meal in front of him, it smelled delicious. Curiously, he looked up at Haou. "What is this?"

A shrug as the brunette sat down in front of him at the table. "I don't know, I just threw a bunch of things together."

Jehu tasted it. "Wow, I never would've imagined."

Haou hid a blush by looking down at the plate in front of him. "I could say the same."

"Hm?"

Haou glanced at the painting of the cherry blossom tree on the wall opposite of them.

Jehu's gaze softened.

"I'm… sorry."

"For?" Haou raised a brow, looking back at the bluenette.

"For… all of this, really. It was all just because we got off to a rough start, and I mean, I had a lot on my mind that day, and with my mom practically forcing me to go to that shrine that day, I wasn't exactly in a happy mood."

Shaking his head, Haou put down his fork. "I was the same. My mother was also having me go and I didn't want to."

Jehu chuckled. "I guess we should blame our moms then."

"Yeah."

The two continued on in silence, not wanting to force any kind of conversation that could leave them hanging in an awkward silence.

Finally, Jehu looked at the clock hanging on the wall in front of them and tilted his head to the side a bit. "It's getting late, we should probably get some rest."

Haou followed his line of sight and nodded. Staying up past midnight on a Wednesday was never a good idea, especially since there was the high chance of sleeping at school the next day. Not that their teachers really cared, it wasn't their grades that suffered.

Jehu stood up and began gathering up the plates and dishes when Haou started to help. "Uhm… w-where's the guest room?" Haou avoided the other's gaze after their hands brushed slightly when they reached out for the same glass.

Jehu couldn't help but give a small laugh. This side of Haou could definitely grow on him. It was… unexpected to see that someone so stubborn could be shy. "I'll take you there in a bit, do you want some of my clothes to sleep in?" Sleeping in jeans was never comfortable, he would know, he tended to pass out a lot while wearing them… or sometimes he woke up without them, but that was a story for another day.

The bluenette walked into the kitchen with Haou behind him, tripping along the way because of the road his thoughts were taking.

He would wear Jehu's clothes.

Wasn't that something lovers or close friends did?

Oh God, things really had changed.

"Haou?"

"Hm?" He looked up and saw Jehu was looking at him, amused. Haou stared and nodded slowly.

"… Sure." He watched as Jehu began washing the dishes and raised a brow.

"Sorry, gimme a minute, I just want to make sure all the evidence is gone."

"Evidence?" What, was he planning a murder?

"Haha, yeah, I don't want my mom to know that you're here, she'll freak."

The brunette frowned. "Why?"

"She'll probably like, attack you with hugs and questions."

"She will?"

Jehu paused in rinsing out a plate before nodding. "Oh yeah, the moment she finds out you're my soul mate she will, she was in love with the idea since the beginning."

"Oh," Haou laughed. And he'd been worried!

After Jehu finished, refusing help from Haou claiming that he was the host and Haou the guest, he took them upstairs to the guest room. Haou checked out the room while Jehu went to go find him some clothes to wear.

The room was a light blue, with a painting on one of the walls here too. Haou had to wonder if Jehu had at least one painting in every room. This one was a picture of a city at night covered in snow. It was beautiful, just like all the other paintings.

"Hey sorry, this was all I could find that might fit you."

Haou turned around and looked at the doorway, where Jehu stood with some black sweats and a white dress shirt. He handed him the clothes and watched as Haou looked them over.

The shirt was too big. But that's alright, Haou preferred wearing loose clothing. Jehu turned around to give him some privacy and Haou stopped changing after putting on the shirt that went to halfway down his thighs.

"Um… I don't think I need the sweats…"

It was a warm night anyway.

Jehu turned around and stared. Haou looked so… cute. His sleeves were almost covering his fingers even though he kept waving his hands around to bring them up. And those legs… Jehu shook his head to rid himself of those thoughts. It was too soon. Much too soon to do anything let alone _think _it.

A small blush spread across Haou's face when he noticed the amber gaze. Maybe he should put on the sweats… "Um, Jehu?"

"Yeah?"

"I'll uhm, see you in the morning?"

He blinked. "Oh, right." He smiled. "Goodnight."

"Night."

The two looked away from each other and got ready for bed. Even though it was well into the night, the two doubted they would get much sleep.

There was just too much on their minds right now.

* * *

Reiko sighed as she got out of her car. Talk about a long day. She would be lucky if she could get more than an hour of sleep tonight.

Deciding to walk in through the front door, she entered the large backyard to her house.

Only to see Sparkle lying outside, sleeping.

The purplette raised a brow. What the heck was she doing out here? Jehu never moved her, hell, he didn't even like her. And it wasn't like he needed her out of his way to get into his room.

Reiko kneeled down by the sleeping dog and saw that Sparkle was knocked out. She was sleeping like a log.

_He… tranquilized her?_

Odd. Why would he do that?

Standing back up, she made her way to the front door, unlocking it and making her way inside.

It only took her a moment to catch the smell of food in the air.

Jehu can't cook for shit.

Someone else was in the house.

Moving around as quietly as she could, she placed her purse on the couch as she walked by it, trying to listen for anyone talking to making noises anywhere in the house.

_This brat better not have done something as stupid as kidnapping someone… _She looked inside the kitchen and saw a couple of plates and glasses drying in the sink.

_And _he did the dishes? He was trying to cover his tracks then.

Only he didn't realize that no one could fool her.

Jehu was _so _dead if he did something stupid again.

Tiptoeing up the stairs, she headed straight for the guest room.

A small gasp escaped her when she saw a brunette boy lying on the bed, sleeping peacefully.

Oh _hell _no. Jehu was just asking for it now.

She turned on her heel and made her way into Jehu's room.

"Jehu!" She slammed the door open and watched her son sit up quickly in shock. "Huh? What?"

"You kidnapped someone?"

"… Huh?"

Reiko got a book that was lying on the bookshelf beside her and threw it at Jehu who ducked out of the way and jumped off the bed.

"Don't play stupid! That boy in the guest room! You kidnapped him, didn't you? I should kill you!"

"Wait!" He dodged his alarm clock. "It's not like that!"

"Bull! You expect me to believe that he willingly came over?" She threw her cell at him, silently thankful it hit the bed instead. "I mean, I knew you were starting off on the wrong road, but goddamn Jehu, _kidnapping_?"

Haou, who had been woken up by the yells, was now watching them from the threshold, curiously, wondering if he should speak up.

"But mom! I didn't—"

"Enough!" There went the DVD player. "You take that boy back home this instant and apologize to his family or so help me—"

"He didn't kidnap me," Haou finally spoke, drawing their attention. "I'm… his soul mate."

Jehu's eyes went wide when he saw Haou was standing there behind his mom who had been slowly advancing on him. She turned around and raised a brow at the young brunette, taking in his appearance for the first time. That was Jehu's shirt… She looked him up and down, then looked at Jehu. She repeated this once more before saying, "_You _scored _him _for a soul mate? And you _left _him? You moron! I should kill you!"

Jehu paled slightly and ran away, opening his window and jumping out, knowing that his mom probably wasn't kidding with her threat. Thank God he'd gotten rid of the bars already, only now, his mom would probably put more bars on his window.

Gold eyes were surprised when he saw how easily Jehu did that. Did he run away from his mother like that at a regular basis?

Reiko shook her head twice before turning around to look at Haou. She smiled at him. "Hello, it's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Reiko, that idiot's mother."

Haou laughed sheepishly. "Likewise, I'm Haou." He looked out the window when he heard Jehu curse loudly and some barking followed it, along with the sound of chains rattling like crazy. "Um… is he alright?"

Reiko walked towards him, inspecting him with amused amber eyes. "Oh, don't worry about him, he's fine. Now, I'd like to know the truth, did you come here willingly?"

"... Yes. Was I not supposed to?"

Reiko put her hands up. "No, of course not, you're always welcome here. I was just wondering because last I heard, you two weren't really hitting it off too well."

Haou winced and scratched the back of his head. "Oh… yeah…"

She nodded and crossed her arms over her chest. "Did you two do it?"

"What?" Haou's eyes went wide and a quick blush spread across his cheeks. "No!"

"Then why are you wearing his shirt?"

"I had nothing else to wear! We haven't done anything, really!"

She grinned. "Aww, you're so cute!"

Oh God, Jehu had been right. "Um… thank you?"

Chuckling, she walked up to him and smiled. "Goodnight Haou, I hope my son doesn't drive you as crazy as he does me."

Haou laughed. "Goodnight Reiko-san."

"Reiko's just fine sweetie."

"Hey! How come you're nice to him?" Jehu asked from outside.

"Because he's not a moron like you!" She yelled back, throwing a shoe out the window.

"Ow!"

Reiko and Haou laughed.

* * *

When morning came, Haou found himself staring at Jehu, who was already sitting at the table. "Morning." Jehu greeted, giving him a soft smile. Haou was still wearing the shirt and he looked cute with his hair a little ruffled around the place, while rubbing his eye with his sleeve.

"Morning." He yawned.

The other chuckled. "Not a morning person?"

"Coffee."

"Ah." So he needed coffee before he was coherent. Cute. Jehu stood up and walked into the kitchen with Haou behind him, staying close behind, as if standing behind Jehu would save him in case a knife fell. The amber eyed senior poured Haou some hot coffee. "How much sugar?"

"None. Black." Haou took the coffee and took a drink of it, savoring the hot taste. He blinked a couple times and looked around, already looking more alive than before. "Morning."

"Hahaha, ready for school?" Jehu sipped at his sweet coffee while looking at the clock. They still had a couple hours before school started.

"Um… I still have no clothes…"

"I can fix that!" Reiko sang as she ran down the stairs with some of Jehu's clothes in her hands. They could all see the clothes wouldn't fit him so well, they were far too big. "They're perfect! You'd look so rap—"

"Mom!" Jehu interrupted, nearly spilling his coffee. He couldn't believe she would say that! Well he could, but still!

Haou tilted his head to the side a bit. "Huh?" He may be coherent, but that didn't mean his brain was working in the morning.

Reiko smirked. "Oh come on, Jehu. Don't be such a downer, I was just kidding."

"Hm. Yeah right."

"Anyway, come on Haou, grab your things, I'll give you a ride to your house before school starts." Reiko said, tossing Jehu's clothes onto the ground. He rolled his eyes, knowing he'd have to pick those up later.

"Um… ok."

Haou finished up his coffee and went upstairs. He stopped halfway and looked down at Reiko and Jehu. "Where should I put the shirt?" He pulled on the collar a little bit, showing a bit more of his skin.

Jehu looked away, not wanting his thoughts to take a sharp turn while Reiko grinned. "Keep it."

"Mom!"

"… Fine. Just leave it in the room, I'll get it later."

Jehu shook his head.

"Um… ok then." Haou turned around, then turned back. "Oh, Jehu?"

"Yeah?" Amber met gold.

Haou gave a timid smile. "Thank you."

The bluenette nodded.

Reiko smiled as she watched the two.

She knew Fate couldn't be wrong. They were perfect for each other.

Oh, but Fate didn't want them to have it so easy.

Jehu and Haou were about to face another bump in the road.

And they had no idea that it was coming.

* * *

**Monkey: No, this story isn't almost done. Well, kind of. There's still ... four more chapters left :D **

**I don't know though, who wants to see Fate screw them a little more? -raises hand- xD**

**I'm sooooo sorry if it seemed like I rushed these two, this is why the chapter was so hard for me to write, I'm used to just throwing two people into a relationship, but I tried to have the two take things really, really slowly. n.n;;**

**Well I hope you guys liked it! See you soon... hopefully! XD**


	9. Little by Little

**Monkey: Still not owning, unfortunately =w= xD **

**Oh, timeline in case I confuse some of you (I confused myself, so no worries XD) : last chapter took place on a Wednesday, this chapter starts out on Friday, then Saturday and finally Monday XD **

**Hope you guys like it!**

* * *

Jehu stared at the brunette in front of him in surprise. "Haou? What's up?"

The two were completely unaware of all the looks they were receiving from their schoolmates. Jehu, the class badass who was probably an aspiring murderer was talking to Haou, the indifferent senior with a glare that could make robots cry. Since when did they start talking? Were they going to team up to try to take over the world? God help them.

"Jehu… I'd like to talk to you about something," Haou began, looking directly into amber.

Oh no, did Haou regret what they did Wednesday? They didn't even do anything! Maybe it was his mother? Maybe Reiko had scared him off?

"Sure… what's wrong?"

"You're an alcoholic."

Jehu's eyebrows rose. "Uh…"

"Aren't you?"

"Well… some consider me, but I do have control… What brought this up?" Jehu wasn't mad at all, he was just curious. Did this mean Haou was starting to care or worry about him?

"I've…" Haou flushed and looked down. "I've heard so many rumors…"

Oh. Ohhhh. Oh shit.

"Rumors? I swear I haven't knocked anyone up," both cringed a bit at the crude words. "I've never killed anyone, the whole spending a night in jail thing never happened, I never robbed the bank or got away with it, I never—wait, yes I did go bungee jumping three times in a row because I was bored—I don't kick puppies and smack babies, I never stabbed a cat, I never pushed an old lady into the street to get run over by a semi, I've never broken into anyone's house and I've never done all this and more while drunk."

Haou stared. Wow, Jehu was well-informed of the rumors about himself.

"Edo tells me everything," Jehu spoke when he saw the look on Haou's face.

The brunette frowned at the silverette's name. Jehu made a mental note to find out why exactly those two hated each other so much. Speaking of Edo, he still had to figure out who the junior liked.

"Jehu—"

The bell rang, signaling that they had a minute to get to their next class. Jehu had no problems being late to class or ditching altogether but he doubted Haou would feel alright with that.

"Haou, I'd like it if we finished this conversation, but I can't during lunch, I have lunch detention."

Nodding, Haou made to move towards the other senior but stopped himself when he noticed they still had an audience.

"I'll meet you after school?"

"At the front gates?"

"Alright."

"Great, I'll take you home." He smiled at him and walked away, leaving a blushing Haou and shocked audience.

oOoOo

As Jehu made his way past the groups and mobs of teenagers after school, he bumped into Edo.

"Edo," Jehu greeted with a raised brow; the junior looked eager.

"You wouldn't believe what people are saying about you."

Jehu sighed tiredly. He knew from experience that once Edo started with the latest gossip about him, he wouldn't stop until the last word was said. And that could take an hour or two. He raised a hand. "Sorry Edo, you'll have to brief me later, I'm going over to me—"

"About you and Haou."

"… Walk with me." No harm in knowing what was being said about them, right?

"So, remember when the rumors were that you had done his sister, cousins and ex-girlfriend and now you two were in the middle of a gang war?" Edo began quickly, his mouth barely keeping up with his words.

Jehu blinked twice in confusion. "… No."

Edo brought a finger to his chin. "Hm… guess I've been behind on relaying you the bundle of the gossip mill."

"Because you've been chasing after someone." Jehu smirked as they started walking down the stairs.

Edo blushed madly at the top of the stairs. "I am not!" He ran down the steps to catch up with the senior.

"Anyway," Jehu interrupted before Edo went on another rant. "If that's what the rumor was before, which were of course lies, what are they now?"

Edo looked smug. "That you two are going at it like rabbits in the janitor's closet and empty classrooms."

Jehu nearly tripped down the rest of the stairs but caught himself with the rail. "What?" All that after just one meeting, two if they counted their "first date"?

"Yup. Funny, huh?"

"Haou's going to kill me…" Jehu mumbled, bringing a hand up to cover his face.

"Maybe, but you haven't even heard the funniest rumor about you two yet."

Jehu lowered his hand and eyed the silverette warily. Did he dare? Ah hell, it's not like Edo was going to let him say no. "There's more?"

"Oh yeah. Apparently, the two of you—"

"Jehu?"

Damn, so close. The blunette looked up and saw his soul mate. "Hey Haou."

Edo and Haou exchanged glares. Jehu stepped in between them smoothly, not wanting WWIII to started up right in front of him. He looked at the junior. "Edo, we'll continue this talk later, alright?"

The silverette nodded. "Bye rabbits."

Haou looked confused.

"Ahahahahaha, good luck with your mystery crush." Jehu replied easily.

Edo blushed and pouted. "I hate you."

"I…" Jehu glanced at the brunette who was staring at him expectantly, nearly daring him to finish that common reply, "will see you later." He took Haou's hand and left without waiting to catch the junior's reaction.

He chuckled as he watched students stare after the two seniors and starting to whisper all over the place.

Looks like the rumor mill was working overtime today.

oOoOo

"Sorry we're walking." Jehu started about halfway to his house. He didn't even notice he was still holding Haou's hand.

_I'm not blushing, I refuse to believe that just because he's holding my hand that…_ Haou involuntarily squeezed Jehu's hand a little tighter, drawing the bluenette's attention to their hands.

"Oh… sorry." Jehu made to pull his hand away but let his surprise show when Haou kept his hand in place.

"So um… do you have a car?" He decided to change the subject, hoping to give himself enough time to calm his persistent blush.

"At the moment, no," Jehu started, bringing his other hand up to scratch the back of his head. "I crashed it the other day and I haven't gone to get it back yet."

"You _crashed _it? Were you hurt?"

Looks like today was just full of surprises for Jehu. Haou's concern left him wondering if he was ok. Haou was shocked with himself as well.

The bluenette looked away guiltily and shook his head. "I was… really drunk that night. I um, I think that saved me…" He looked at Haou to see his reaction to his words.

Haou made a face of discomfort.

"What?"

The two-toned brunette looked down, watching every step he took by the other senior. "Nothing."

Jehu gazed at him, patient. He knew that was a lie. "Haou…"

Frowning, he looked up at him. "I just don't like that you drink." Haou noticed the small smile that started to appear on Jehu's face and looked away, embarrassed. "W-what? I-it's not like it's anything unusual," he stammered out.

The older senior stopped walking, his hold on Haou's hand making him stop too. Jehu took a step towards him, putting their faces only inches away from each others. He caught sight of Haou suddenly blushing darkly and his smile grew. "It's sweet of you to care."

Making a bold move, Jehu leaned down and gave Haou a soft kiss on his cheek. Gold eyes went wide and a smirk played on the bluenette's face.

Jehu stepped back and released Haou's hand before he started walking again. He glanced back at the unmoving senior. "You coming?"

Snapping out of his reverie, Haou blinked twice and hurried to catch up to him.

_I… I think I'm starting to fall for him…_

oOoOo

When they got to Jehu's house, the bluenette went to tranquilize Sparkle who didn't waste time to start barking like crazy when Jehu opened the door.

"Oh shit! Haou get out and shut the door!" Jehu exclaimed moments before Haou heard the barking and the rattling of chains get louder. He saw Jehu running down the stairs and Haou ran out of the house, slamming the door shut behind him. Seconds after, he heard something slam hard into the door. He cringed and hoped that wasn't Jehu.

About a minute when by when all the chaos in the house stopped and the door slowly opened.

Sparkle was once again knocked out in Jehu's arms.

Haou stared. "Um…?"

"Sorry about that, she got loose before I could tranq her so… yeah…" Jehu walked past him and lowered Sparkle to the ground before chaining her up to the gate. He gave the chain a tug and stood back up, grinning at the brunette.

It was no wonder Jehu was how he was, he came from a very crazy home.

_And it looks like I'll have to start getting used to that too_, Haou thought. But he wasn't worried. Truthfully, it kind of looked like fun.

"Should I make something to eat?" Haou offered as Jehu locked the front door.

"If you want to, we could just order out."

Haou frowned. "That stuff is bad for you."

"Well when your mom cooks like mine, it's either that or going hungry." Jehu stuck his tongue out.

Haou shook his head with a timid smile. "Oh come on, your mom can't be that bad of a cook."

Jehu remembered the food in the fridge (if it could be called food) that he found two nights ago that moved when he poked it. Did Haou not see it while he was making whatever it was that he made? "… I think I could eat toxic waste and come out okay by now."

Haou laughed. "I'll go make something for us then, and I'll leave some for your parents too."

Jehu shrugged. "Alright, but just make enough for the three of us, my dad won't be home for a while." His dad was supposed to have returned days ago, but he kept getting called to go to other places for the company.

"Oh, okay."

About forty-five minutes later, Haou finally finished making dinner.

"Wow Haou," Jehu complimented. Although he had to admit, while he watched Haou work around in the kitchen, he began to imagine him wearing a pink apron. Then just the apron. Then—

_Ok, I'm definitely gay._

Any objections he previously had about him and Haou not being soul mates because neither were gay were thrown out the window and into a wood chucker.

The two started eating their meals in a comfortable silence.

The only sounds were those of their forks and knives moving around on the plate and that of their glasses, when they set them down.

All was quiet until…

"Are you gay?"

Haou choked on his orange juice and Jehu thought maybe he should've waited a few more seconds before asking. After he was done coughing, Haou blushed and looked at Jehu carefully. "W-what?"

Jehu picked up his grape juice and spoke before sipping it. "Are you into guys?"

"W-well…"

Jehu nodded and set his glass down gently. "Figured that was most of the reason as to why you were so against this, right?"

Haou moved his food around with his fork. "Are you?"

His response was a shrug. "I was against this idea at first because I thought I wasn't, but now I'm not so sure." Amber eyes stared deep into gold, a tiny bit of amusement playing around in his eyes.

"O-oh."

"I'm sorry for ruining the mood."

"No, no, you didn't ruin the mood." Oh yes he did.

"Hm…" Jehu placed his fork down and interlaced his fingers in front of him, signaling that he was finished. "You know that this will never work out if we're not both gay, right?"

Placing his own fork down, the other senior bit his lower lip. "… I know…"

Jehu stood up and began picking up his plate. "Are you finished?"

"Hm? Oh, yeah." He let Jehu take his plate while he took the glasses.

The comfort in their previous silence had ditched them for the happy couple down the street and left them instead with comfort's weird date, awkward. No one knew how awkward scored comfort, no one liked awkward.

"Haou, why don't you head to my room for a bit while I finish up the dishes?"

"Alright."

"Second door on your left." Haou nodded and left the kitchen, going up the stairs. He figured maybe it was because last time he was there he was only there to sleep, but he didn't even notice Jehu's door was painted black with silver vines and roses. He expected his room to be filled with paintings, but he saw that wasn't true when he opened the door.

All four walls were painted black. The ceiling was veered with a painting Haou found Jehu did when he was younger because of the date. The painting was that of a night sky, complete with brilliantly shinning stars, the full moon in one corner, bringing in radiant light to the otherwise dark room. There were two black bookshelves, filled with school books, thrillers, horrors and suspense mysteries, alone with one photo album. A gray desk sat up against a wall with a black and red laptop sitting on it. His windows had blue-gray curtains. There was a small black lamp on his desk and one by his bed. A dark blue chair in front of his desk was holding Jehu's black and white checkered backpack. His bed had black sheets with blue, silver and white designs, along with black pillows. The carpet was a light gray.

_I wonder why he keeps his room so dark…_ Haou sat down on his bed, gazing up at the ceiling. He looked down at the pillows beside him and noticed the edge of a notebook peaking out from under the pillow.

He looked away and tried to ignore his curiosity nagging at him to see what was inside.

_It's wrong to look through other people's things without asking permission first! _One side of his brain argued. _But he _is _your soul mate…_ Times like this, Haou wished he could see his angel and devil halves so he could pick them both up and toss them out the nearest window.

_And right into Sparkle's food bowl_, Haou thought evilly, successfully getting his mini-devils to shut up.

But it was too late, the damage was done. Haou reached over and pulled out the green and black notebook from under the pillow.

_One little peak wouldn't hurt… me._

He glanced at the door before carefully opening up the notebook. He was probably being ridiculous, but anything that involved Jehu had the possibility of scaring the hell out of someone from just touching it.

Haou was a little disappointed when he saw it was Jehu's math notebook. He flipped through the pages, seeing that Jehu's notes never took more than half a page a day. He wondered why he did that.

Then he found out, or he assumed he did. He gave a small gasp when he saw that halfway through the notebook, Jehu had drawings, ranging from sketches to work that looked like a picture in black and white. And then, there were pictures of him.

This one was made just a couple days after we met, Haou noticed, looking at the date of the rough sketch. The words, "My soul mate…?" were written in elegant writing at the bottom of the picture. It was amazing to see how well Jehu could draw someone after having only seen them once. There were a couple more sketches of Haou, more recent ones. Finally, there was a picture of Haou leaning against a balcony.

"_He gave me a chance_…" was written beneath the picture.

oOoOo

"Jehu!"

Amber eyes jumped to the teacher. "Yeah?"

"Are you even paying attention?" She placed her hands on her hips and looked at him, trying to look intimidating.

The artist kept his gaze blank. "… Sure."

"Really? Would you like to continue today's lesson then?"

"Um… no." He could be blamed, she asked him if he _wanted _to; he didn't.

She shook her head at him, ignoring the chuckling coming from the other students. It was a wonder how Jehu was passing with flying colors, he never seemed to pay attention.

Jehu waited until she turned back to her AP physics lesson to continue was he was doing.

Drawing, of course.

Drawing Haou to be more accurate.

Haou was leaning forward on a balcony, looking up at the full moon glowing in the night sky. His hands were in front of him, his fingers interlaced. A light breeze was shuffling his hair around a bit, along with the long dress shirt Jehu had lent him Wednesday night.

He was currently working on his eyes, and he would be done.

He tried sad eyes first.

Frowning, Jehu erased his eyes and tried again.

Happy eyes?

His eraser made quick work of that mistake.

Deep, thoughtful eyes that could glare harshly at any given moment.

Perfect.

Now he could only hope that Haou never saw these drawings of him, he didn't want to scare him away. It wasn't like he was obsessed with drawing him, but for some reason, he's all Jehu wanted to draw recently.

Well, since the pictures were in his math notebook, he doubted Haou would ever see them. Hell, his teacher never saw his notes. Then again, he had to find a better hiding spot than under his pillow, he was starting to get math related nightmares, and they were freaking him out. The worst ones would have Sparkle and Reiko chasing him and throwing heavy, large objects for every math problem he got wrong, and he never got a problem right in his nightmares. It was horrible.

oOoOo

Haou wondered if anyone else knew about those pictures.

At that moment, Jehu walked into the room.

Haou nearly squeaked and he closed the notebook, shoving it back under the pillow, blushing.

_I seem to be doing that a lot lately around him_, Haou thought.

Jehu, who hadn't been paying attention to anything, raised a brow in question when he saw the blush. "Something wrong?"

Completely out of character for the brunette, he got off the bed, walked over to Jehu and gave him a small peck on the cheek, then blushed darkly and sat back down on the bed.

Haou felt… he felt… well, he didn't know what exactly he felt but he pretended that he was perfectly fine and that his heart didn't skip a couple beats just then.

Jehu blinked in shock then smiled. He didn't know what he did right, but it looked like Haou was starting to warm up to him.

oOoOo

It was already nighttime, Reiko had long since shown up and gone to bed.

Yet Haou couldn't sleep. Was it the pictures? Was it the fact that Jehu was sleeping in the room next door? Or maybe it was because he was wearing another one of Jehu's shirts?

"I think…" Haou brought a hand up to his throat, then lowering it to clutch at the collar of his shirt. "I think I like him…" But there was no way that was possible! Up until a couple days ago, he would've glared death at anyone who said he would end up in Jehu's house wearing his close and finding himself falling for the bluenette.

So what brought on the change?

_I got to know him a little more… and even though I ruined things the first time around, Jehu still took care of me, for a whole day even. _

After their little moment a few hours ago in Jehu's room, they had just talked, with Jehu sitting at his desk, Haou staying on the bed. Eventually, Haou told him he looked at the notebook. Jehu was surprised at first, but Haou quickly told him that he loved the pictures… then blushed and tried to change the subject.

He didn't miss that gentle smile that spread across Jehu's face, before helping Haou change the subject.

They got to know a little more about what the other likes and dislikes, what the do when they're bored, and little things that they'll probably forget once the night is through.

Jehu asked Haou about his mom and he was happy to know she was really sweet and nice.

"I wish my mom was like that."

"I heard that you ungrateful ass!" Reiko had called from her room.

Jehu paled a bit. "Crap, I didn't know she came home already. She has her ways of scaring the hell outta me."

"You damn well better believe it!"

Haou tilted his head in curiosity. "How can she hear us?" He looked over and saw the door was closed, and she sounded like she was in the next room.

Jehu shrugged and mouthed, "I have no idea, she's crazy like that."

"I'm not crazy!"

Haou watched as Jehu looked around his room, searching for a wire tap or a camera. He gave up a half hour later when he found nothing.

"You'll never find it!"

Jehu and Haou continued their conversation downstairs in the living room.

Now, Haou decided to stop staring up at the ceiling and get a drink of water or something. Quietly getting off the bed, he walked out of the room and down the stairs, expecting to be walking around in near complete darkness.

He was surprised when he saw the dining room light was on and Jehu was sitting at the table, a pensive look on his face.

"Jehu?" Haou whispered, not wanting to scare the other.

Amber eyes looked over at him, their glazed over state turning into curiosity. "Haou, what are you doing still awake?"

It was about two-forty in the morning, if he wasn't mistaken.

"Um, I couldn't sleep," Haou replied shyly, stopping at the bottom of the stairs.

Jehu nodded. "I know what you mean." He stood up and walked into the kitchen, Haou following him.

"Want a cookie?"

Normally Haou would reject the sweets, but this time he wanted it. "Sure."

Jehu walked over to the cookie jar and opened it, looking inside. "There's only one left…"

"Oh, that's ok then, I'm ok," Haou spoke up, not minding either way. If Jehu wanted it, that was alright. He knew from their talk earlier that Jehu had a soft spot for cookies, but that was just about the only sweet thing he liked.

"Hm…" Jehu got an idea. He broke the cookie in half and gave one half to Haou, then went to the fridge. "Milk?"

"Yes please."

Haou looked down at the cookie. It might seem so elementary school of him, but the thought of Jehu sharing his cookie with him made him happy, it was sweet of him to do that.

He went over to the dining room table and waited for Jehu to come out.

Gold eyes looked up at Jehu when he placed his cup in front of him. "And now we toast."

"Toast for what?"

Jehu shrugged. "For… not giving up? I don't know, I'm in the mood to make a toast."

"With milk?" _Not alcohol?_

Jehu sat down in front of him and swirled his milk around for a bit before finally speaking with a small smile on his face. He knew what Haou was thinking, and it didn't scare him that he knew that, it actually made him glad he could. "Yes with milk, because someone very important would like me to quit." He paused. "And I would like him to know that I will promise him that."

Haou looked down at his milk to hide his smile. He bit into his cookie because he couldn't come up with anything to say.

But he did meet Jehu's cup with his own.

Little did they know, Reiko was sitting at the top of the stairs with a smile on her face. Sure she was eavesdropping on them, but she was pleased to know that those two were making progress.

_Looks like I raised him right… more or less,_ Reiko thought. _I knew going to see that priest would do some good for Jehu. He really has been changing, little by little. _

She decided to give them some privacy and stood up and walked into her room, closing the door softly behind her.

After Jehu and Haou finished their half of the cookie and their milk, Jehu put the cups in the sink, leaving them for tomorrow and stood at the bottom of the stairs.

"I'm going to head off to bed, are you going to stay down here?"

Haou shook his head. "I just wanted to clear—um, I just wanted to get something to drink, so I'm going to bed too."

Chuckling, Jehu motioned for Haou to walk up the stairs, then turned off the lights, throwing them into sudden darkness.

Haou stopped walking, causing Jehu to bump into him. The bluenette was a step below him, not saying a word as he took another step and wrapped a careful arm around Haou's waist. The brunette didn't flinch or move away and instead he looked back at him.

Their eyes were slightly glowing, making it easy for them to see each other. Jehu leaned down a bit, bringing their faces closer.

Haou realized what he was doing and backed away. "G-goodnight Jehu." He said quickly, getting out of his grasp and walking up the stairs in a slight rush.

The bluenette let out a quiet sigh. So close.

But that was alright, he meant it when he said they didn't have to rush anything. He knew that eventually, Haou would let him kiss him.

He smirked. It was actually kind of fun playing this innocent game of chase with Haou.

oOoOo

When morning came, Haou and Jehu decided to go to a café to eat breakfast. Jehu walked out of the house to distract Sparkle long enough so Haou could walk out of the backyard safely.

Reiko stepped in front of Haou before he could leave. The brunette looked up at her in question. "Is something wrong?"

Reiko shook her head. "I wanted to thank you."

"But… I haven't done anything?"

She smiled at him. "You don't know it, but you have. I mean, it's only been a couple days, but Jehu hasn't gotten drunk or run away for the hell of it since you two started talking. But don't tell him I care about him, otherwise he won't fear me anymore."

Haou returned the smile. "Alright."

"Haou! Come on! I don't like having Sparkle look at me like I'm her next meal!"

He laughed and waved goodbye to Jehu's mother before leaving the house.

It seemed things were going well for them.

oOoOo

It was unusual for Isamu and Vergil to willingly be going to the same place that didn't involve work, but this time they were heading off to the high school their sons attended, neither having a clue who their sons knew.

Vergil and Isamu stepped out of their cars and glared at each other.

"Find another parking space," Isamu said.

"Move your car, I was here first." Vergil shot.

"I don't care, I see enough of you at work."

"And you think I like to see you outside of work? It's bad enough you're my terrible assistant—"

"Which you could fire at any given time!"

"Or you could quit, up to you really."

"I hate you."

"I hate you too."

"God, I can't believe once I—"

"You what? You _liked _me?"

"Gross! You fucker! I bet you _want _me to say something like that!"

"And why would I want that?"

"Because you're always looking for ways to fire me!"

"Of course, that is my _only _goal in life, to make you miserable by looking for ways to fire you, but never actually doing it." The sarcasm in Vergil's voice only ticked Isamu off even more.

By this point, the two were glaring beyond death and Hell at each other, well, Isamu was. He was even waving his arms around the place, getting angrier by the second. Vergil was taking things calmer, simply glaring and having his arms crossed over his chest.

They heard the bell ring for the last class to end, and didn't care, their sons would show up when they would. They didn't even care that they were drawing attention from the other parents and the students that seemed to fly out of the school.

The attention could be from the fact that they were arguing so loudly, or maybe it was because they were two hot guys arguing loudly. They were proud of their looks, they only looked a few years older than their sons. Although that tended to bring them a lot of unwanted attention, but they weren't afraid of their wives—they got even more attention than they did. Their sons were lucky to have such great genes.

"Why don't you fire me?"

"Because you're fun to annoy. And again, why don't you just quit? Unless you secretly look forward to seeing me everyday, maybe even to the point where you dream—"

"Don't you go there you bastard! I'll kill you!"

"And I'll haunt you until you throw yourself off a bridge."

"Ha! You would like that, wouldn't you? Haunting me, going everywhere with me, I bet you're the one that likes me!"

"I wouldn't go gay for you if you were the last man on earth and you could bear kids."

"Argh! That's a god awful picture!"

"You or the pregnant you?"

"When you die, I will laugh and dance on your grave."

"Well that's funny, because I don't plan on dying first. Or at least, if I die, I'm taking you with me."

"Not if I kill you first!"

"Oh goddamnit Isamu, give it a rest, you're starting to annoy me."

"Good! Now you know how I feel every fucking day!"

"You know, you only started to get really annoying after that party we went to, hosted by—"

"_Shut up_! You swore you would never bring that up again!"

"Not my fault you couldn't hold your alcohol."

"You have no idea how much I want to strangle you right now."

"Then what's stopping you?"

"I—" Isamu looked to his left and saw his son walking towards him, with a bluenette.

Vergil followed his line of sight and saw his son walking with a brunette.

Confused, the two stared at the other boy with their son. They looked so familiar…

Their sons stopped walking only a few meters away, the brunette looking up at the bluenette with a small blush on his cheeks.

"I'm um... glad we're hanging out a little more."

"So am I," Jehu said after they stopped. He brought a hand up to caress Haou's cheek.

"Jehu…"

At this point, their dads' eyes went wide.

"Jehu?"

"Haou!"

Isamu and Vergil turned to glare at each other while Jehu and Haou looked over at them in shock.

"What the…?" Jehu asked, looking at his dad glaring at a brunette that looked like…

"Why is he…" Haou trailed off when he saw his dad glaring at a raven that reminded him of…

Realization hit all four at the same time.

Isamu was Haou's dad. Vergil was Jehu's dad.

Jehu was holding his father's enemy's son.

Haou was letting his father's enemy's son hold him.

Isamu saw that bastard's son's hand on Haou's cheek.

Vergil saw his son caressing that dumbass' son's cheek.

"What are you doing with _him!_?" their fathers yelled.

At that moment, Haou and Jehu knew, the shit had hit the fan.

* * *

**Monkey: Whoo~! It's... something in the morning, but I updated again! XD**

**Sooo... who else would like to see where this leads Haou and Jehu? Wonder if their dads want to bring out the shotguns right now XD**

**-sips Monster- Hmmm poor poor... everyone? Haha, looks like everyone got screwed over in this chap xD **

**ACK! I forgot about Edo and his crush! X_x; Like, to give off a hint of who it is! -dies- Ok well, here's a hint: Edo knows him XDDDDDDD**

**No worries, you'll all find out... eventually. Although at this rate, it seems like it's going to appear in the last chapter XDD **

**Well, I hope you guys liked it! See you in the next chapter!**

**Oh, and your reviews make me smile x333 Thank you to everyone who reviewed! :DD**


	10. Back to the Beginning

**Monkey: ... Hiii... It's been a while, hasn't it? Like... a few months worth... -cringe- Sorry about that, life just hasn't been the easiest to handle, and this story is giving me major writer's block u.ú;**

**Well, I hope I haven't lost too many readers, I promise not to give up on this story, it's just that my updates for this one are going to be... well not as often as I'd like, I'm so sorry. D:**

**I hope you guys like it!**

* * *

The moment Haou opened his eyes and sat up, he could feel his migraine lurking, ready to cause him misery for yet another day.

He brought a hand up to press against the left side of his face. He knew that wouldn't help him in the least, but maybe he could try to fool himself into thinking it would.

A soft knock on his door disturbed his thoughts.

"Haou, honey, are you awake?" Even her quiet voice made the brunette flinch.

Having a headache for three days straight could be really stressful and irritating. He didn't even need coffee to fully wake him up. In fact, coffee made his head hurt even more. His favorite drink caused him more misery.

Fantastic.

"Haou?"

The brunette slowly kicked off his covers and swung his legs over the side of the bed. He walked to his door and opened it.

"Morning," Haou greeted, his voice barely heard.

Seira stopped the frown from forming. "Morning. How are you?"

Gold eyes stared deep into another pair of gold. "… Fine."

And it was back to one word answers, the amount of words said in a week could be counted on one hand, emotions once more kept to a minimum.

_It's so hard to believe how much of an impact Jehu had on him… _Seira thought. She nodded once. "Right. Well I'm happy to hear that." She reached out towards him but he backed away from her touch. She nodded again and gave a forced smile, brining her hand back. "… Hurry and get ready for school."

"Hm."

Seira turned around and walked away, heading down the stairs.

Haou closed the door and leaned his head against it. He didn't need anyone telling him he was being cold, he noticed there was a drop in expression he had begun feeling thanks to Jehu.

_Jehu…_ He didn't know whether to laugh, cry, or hit something.

Yes, it was thanks to him he started smiling more (after some arguments), but it was also because of him he felt this way now.

* * *

Haou took a step back. Isamu looked damn near murderous.. "Uh… dad, this is—"

"This bastard's son! What the hell is going on here_?_!"

Vergil shifted the poisonous he was giving Jehu onto Isamu. "Watch the insults, dumbass. And are you that stupid that you can't tell what's going on?"

Isamu turned to face his boss. "You shut up you jackass!"

Jehu took a step forward, still keeping a light hold on Haou's hand. "Dad—"

Vergil glanced at Jehu, noticing their hands. "Jehu, we're going home. Now."

Jehu quirked a brow. "No."

"I'm not asking."

"I don't care." Haou's grip loosened, not wanting to get in between this, but Jehu tightened his hold.

"I'm serious," Vergil crossed his arms over his chest.

"So am I."

"Haou, we're going home _now_."

The brunette looked over at his father. "Dad, I—"

Isamu walked over to them and took a hold of Haou's other hand. At the same time, Vergil walked towards Jehu and took a firm hold on Jehu's other arm.

Isamu began pulling Haou away. "You are in serious trouble, Haou. I can't believe I go to the other side of the world for just a month and I come back and you're gay. Even worse, you're gay with _him_! Of all the decent guys out there! What do you see in this one_?_!" _Not to mention, I lost the bet… Damn it. Leave it to that bastard's _son_ to make me miserable too!_ He looked over at the bluenette and glared at him.

Jehu's eyes went wide and he struggled to keep his grip on Haou's hand. "Wait, but I—"

"Let him go, Jehu." Vergil pulled Jehu in the opposite direction.

Haou felt himself dragged away, his hold on Jehu's hand slipping. "D-dad… Jehu!"

Jehu tried to get out of his father's grasp and keep a hold of Haou's hand. "Haou—"

With one final pull, Isamu finally pulled Haou away from Jehu. "I forbid you from seeing him!" He led Haou away, opened the car door and pushed him inside. He quickly got into the driver's seat.

Jehu tried to fight against his father but Vergil kept a vice-like grip on him. "Let me—"

"No. I don't want you anywhere near him either." They watched Isamu drive away. "We're going home." He let Jehu go when Isamu's car was out of sight.

Amber eyes glared into black.

Instead of getting into the car, Jehu walked home. Vergil drove on head, he wouldn't bother trying to coax his son into riding with him, he knew how stubborn he was. Jehu wished now he had his car with him.

He cursed colorfully an hour and a half later when he saw he was locked out the house ("That bastard changed the lock!") with Sparkle waiting for him, unchained and ready to attack.

* * *

Haou sighed. It was like the Montagues and the Capulets all over again.

_Only this time, with two guys. Wonderful._

And to top it off, because of the scene they made with their fathers that day, even the school is treating them differently. At least they are with him, he didn't know if the same thing was going on with Jehu.

He walked out of his room and made his way to the bathroom to take a shower, thankful he didn't see his father on the way.

They hadn't really been seeing eye to eye lately.

He stripped and stepped into the hot shower, wondering how Jehu was doing.

The last time they saw each other was when their dads came to pick them up. It was like even Fate didn't want them together anymore and kept them away from each other.

* * *

"Welcome home swee—what's wrong?" Seira asked when she saw the cold eyes Haou had on. She looked past him to her husband.

"Haou, I'm not done talking to you," he called out to the silent teen who stormed past his mother to go up the stairs. "Haou!"

He was done listening.

Isamu made to follow the brunette up the stairs but Seira blocked his path.

She crossed her arms over her chest and gave him a controlled glare.

"Seira, I need to talk to him," he looked down into cautious gold eyes.

"Not until you tell me what just happened." She took a step forward and couldn't help the smirk that teased her lips when Isamu narrowed his eyes and took a step back.

Despite what he said or thought, she was the one who wore the pants in the relationship.

"So, what happened?" She repeated when he didn't answer.

Isamu rolled his eyes. "I'm sure you know."

Seira raised a brow.

"Our son is gay."

"No shit. What about it?"

"His boyfriend—"

"Oh! They're official now? It's about time!" She grinned to herself and clapped her hands cheerfully. It really was time for those two to finally take that next step.

Isamu looked appalled. "You _knew_?"

Seira frowned. "Of course I knew."

"You knew he is that bastard's son?"

She blinked. "Ok, I clearly don't know what you're talking about. Jehu is whose son?"

"Vergil! He's Vergil's spawn from hell!"

Gold eyes rolled. "Oh please, Haou has told me about Jehu. Sure he has some faults, but he's very sweet to—wait, _Vergil_? As in, your _boss_ Vergil?" Her eyes went wide.

Isamu sighed with a bit of relief. "Now you see my dilemma."

But instead of agreeing with him, Seira burst out laughing, annoying her husband.

"Why are you laughing?"

"Oh God, talk about irony!" She sat down at the bottom of the stairs, laughing. "I would've never guessed! Ha! This is gold!"

Isamu frowned. "What is, that even my boss' _son_ is trying to make me miserable?"

She coughed a bit to calm her laughter. "Oh please, this isn't about you, this is about Haou," she waved a hand around in dismissal.

"Exactly. I'm doing what's best for him."

She stopped laughing completely and stood up, her eyes narrowing. "What's _best_ for him? What exactly did you do?"

He crossed his arms over his chest. "I forbid Haou from seeing him."

"You did _what_? I'll kill you! How dare you_?_!"

Upstairs, Haou hadn't gone into his room yet when he heard his parents start talking. The door to his room was in front of the top of the stairs.

His hand hovered about the doorknob, his gaze downward. He knew he shouldn't eavesdrop, but how could he not when the conversation was about him?

"How dare _I_? How dare _you_? If you knew this Jehu, then why didn't you—"

"First off, what's your problem? Haou can be with whoever the hell he wants to. Second off, Jehu and Vergil are two completely different people. Just because Jehu is his son, doesn't mean they're anything alike. Haou's told me about Jehu and even mentioned that Jehu said he and his father are very different. The whole "like father, like son" thing doesn't even work with you and Haou, what makes you think it's like that with Jehu and Vergil?"

"Because I know Vergil! He's a manipulative asshole and—"

"He's _not_ Jehu. I don't even know what the deal is between you and Vergil, and as your wife, that scares me a bit. But you two aren't Jehu and Haou! Let them make their own choices."

"No."

Isamu continued, but Haou refused to hear anymore of it.

He walked into his room and quietly closed the door.

He sat down on the corner of his bed that was up against a wall. Slowly, he brought his knees up to his chest, wrapped his arms around them and rested his forehead against his knees.

If only things could go better for him. But it seems that Fate would just continue to screw them over again and again.

A couple hours later, when Seira came into his room, she was surprised to see Haou had fallen asleep lying on his side, his knees curled up to his chest, his hands in weak fists by his face.

"Oh Haou…"

* * *

"Vergil, this is ridiculous," Reiko said when she heard Sparkle causing a ruckus, knowing Jehu was finally home. That boy needed to get his car back…

She was just happy he came home and didn't decide to run away again.

"I won't have Isamu's demonic spawn ruining Jehu's life."

Amber eyes rolled. She took a step towards him and he took one towards her.

Damn. Times like this she wished she was able to intimidate him.

"Who says Haou is going to ruin his life?" She crossed her arms over her chest. During the time Vergil got home until, while he was busy changing the lock, they had been talking about what happened at school. "I've met him. Haou wouldn't hurt a fly let alone ruin Jehu's life. Besides, weren't you the one that said that to let Jehu make his own decisions, because we can only influence now?"

"Don't think I will listen to you and change my mind about this. Jehu and Haou will _not_ date."

"You do realize that Jehu will only be living with us for a little longer, right? Once he leaves, he will do whatever the hell he wants."

At that moment, Jehu walked into the house (how did he do that, he doesn't have a key?) looking a little scuffed up because of his fight with Sparkle.

Sparkle was (supposedly) sleeping outside.

His eyes were cold, his expression was…

Well, Reiko couldn't read his expression.

"Jehu—"

"Leave. Me. Alone." Jehu tried to walk past her but Vergil took a hold of his wrist. Jehu stopped and looked back at him. They were the same height, their glares leveled out.

Reiko watched them. It sucked being on the short side sometimes. A few inches could make a big difference in stare downs like these.

None of them spoke. Vergil kept his glare calm, strong. Jehu narrowed his eyes a little further.

Amber eyes suddenly went wide and Jehu ripped his wrist out of Vergil's grasp.

He ran out of the living room and up the stairs, the door to his room slamming shut, making Reiko flinch.

She hated it when those two held silent conversations like that. Only they could do it, and this one looked like Vergil "said" something that angered Jehu even more and made him storm off.

"Vergil…"

Before she could say anything more, Vergil walked away without a word, going up the stairs and into his own room.

Reiko frowned. "Damn boys."

Jehu leaned his back against the door, slowly sliding down.

When he sat down, he raked a hand through his hair.

_The priest was wrong…_

He looked at his window.

When Reiko came up a few hours later to talk to him, he was gone.

"… Damn."

She wouldn't see him again until tomorrow night.

* * *

Edo scanned the hallway before giving a quick sigh of relief, making his way to his locker.

So far it seemed, hanging around certain people made him paranoid. Certain _blue-haired_ people made him paranoid.

Ironic, since being friends with him should have the opposite effect.

_Maybe because Jehu's in a bad mood,_ Edo thought, reaching towards the lock. As he turned his combination, he half-expected something to happen. Jehu being in a bad mood usually meant trouble. To distract himself, he liked to do _something_.

He picked out the books he would need for his next class and closed the locker.

As much as he disliked Haou, he wished the two boys would just make up already so things can go back to normal.

Normal as things got anyway. Which wasn't very normal now that he thought about it…

The silverette turned around and felt his heart nearly leap out of his chest.

"J-Jehu!" He clutched his books tightly to his chest.

This is why he's paranoid.

The bluenette who was about a foot away, stared him down. "Edo."

The junior took a step back, his back hitting the lockers behind him. He looked at him closely.

"Jehu, are you… high?"

He have him a shrug and took a step closer to him. "Scared?"

"Jehu."

The bluenette smirked. "Looks like your hero is here to save you." He looked to his right to see Ryo walking towards them.

"Jehu, we need to talk."

His response was a scoff and he walked away.

Ryo glared at his back, then looked back at Edo who looked calmer than before.

"He's high."

"I figured. He's been like that for a couple days now." The senior raked a hand through his dark blue hair. "This idiot is going to get himself expelled. I'm going to go find him."

He left before Edo could say anything.

Edo gave a sigh. "… I see."

* * *

"Haou's a robot," Manjyome announced when he reached Fubuki and Asuka.

The blonde rolled her eyes. "We've already had this discussion. Just because he's sometimes emotionless, doesn't mean he's a robot."

"True. Besides, eh was starting to show emotion not too long ago," Fubuki commented.

Manjyome picked at his ramen. "But he's glaring people into hell with a curse again."

Asuka stabbed at her salad. "That's just because he hasn't seen _him_ since Monday. Those two were getting close, I'm not sure if he even realized it."

"I think he did. Gay or not, I bet it made him happy to know that he would have someone in his life."

"But now that went out the window and he's back to being Mr. Short Dark and Gloomy." He shivered suddenly and turned around. "H-Haou."

Asuka hid her smirk with a bite of her salad while Fubuki went and giggled at the raven.

Manjyome couldn't take the glare for very long, so he looked away, his cheeks tinged with pink.

Asuka decided to speak. "Have you seen—"

Haou shifted his glare to her.

She glared right back.

And then he remembered why they were friends. She was one of the very few who could take his glare and give it back. He softened his glare. "… No."

She nodded. "Then go find him."

If it were only that easy. If this whole fate crap they've been dealing with wouldn't be so hard on them.

What had they ever done wrong?

"Haou?"

"Yeah?"

"Have you tried to look for him?"

Haou stayed quiet.

Had he tried looking for the bluenette?

Yes.

Had he found him?

Not even a glance.

It was almost like he dropped off the face of the earth after that day.

Maybe he was avoiding him?

Haou just couldn't seem to find Jehu at school since that day. He had thought about feigning sickness to go see him during their third period, but decided against it, knowing he would never be able to pull through with it. He couldn't look for Jehu's friends either.

Asuka didn't know him well enough to know where he was during lunch, or the rest of the day.

Yusuke was someone he'd only met once, so Haou thought it would be awkward to talk to him just to find out where Jehu is.

Ryo, Haou knew, was a very hard person to find during lunch if he wasn't in the quad, which he rarely was.

So that only left Edo.

But was Haou desperate enough to go and talk to him to find Jehu?

… Yes. Yes he was.

He needed to find some normalcy back in his life. The new normal, not the old normal.

Now, where was that silver haired brat?

He left the group without a word and went to look for Edo.

Funny, since normally he didn't want to be within a mile of him.

Asuka watched him leave. "Do you think he'll be alright?"

Manjyome pushed his ramen away. Good quality ramen was so hard to come by these days. "He'll be fine, it's Haou after all."

"Yep, it's not like he's going to kill someone," Fubuki spoke nonchalantly.

Asuka and Manjyome turned to look at him, their brows quirked.

"What?" He asked. "Like you guys weren't thinking it."

Haou found himself a few minutes later standing with his back against the wall of a corner.

On the other side of the corner was Edo, talking to Yusuke.

Yeah, there he was, eavesdropping again.

He hoped he wasn't starting to make a habit out of it.

Edo leaned against the wall with a tired sigh. "I haven't seen either of them since passing period after second."

"You said Ryo went to find him?" Yusuke asked.

Edo nodded. "Think he found him?"

"Knowing Ryo? Oh yeah. He's the only one I know who knows how to find and somewhat control Jehu."

"What about Haou?"

The brunette in question perked his attention when he heard his name.

"No. Haou can't control him. Those two, despite being soul mates, haven't really interacted long enough for Haou to put Jehu in his place," Yusuke replied.

"Doesn't help when Haou gets so stubborn and gives Jehu a hard time. He should be happy Jehu even bothers with him."

"There goes your jealousy again."

"I'm not jealous!" Edo exclaimed. "I just think it was so stupid to have these two of all people, to end up together. They're complete opposites!"

"And that's why they click so well, once they actually try. You've heard the old "opposites attract" right? Well I meant when I said Haou can't control him. But he can change him, guide him to the right path, whichever that ends up being."

"Tch. So something that not even Ryo nor his parents could do that… _guy _suddenly appears with some sort of magic wand and is able to turn Jehu's life around?"

Yusuke rolled his eyes. "I didn't mean it like that. I meant that Haou became Jehu's goal."

Edo frowned. "Jehu didn't even know he was gay until some wacko priest told him so. What makes you think his goal is to get into Haou's pants?"

Yusuke stared blankly at him. "For a smart kid, you can be really dumb." He flicked the silverette's forehead lightly. "Figure it out." He smirked and began to walk away then stopped and spoke without looking back, "By the way, I know who you like."

And he left, leaving behind a shocked Edo and an admittedly shocked Haou.

_That brat actually likes someone? Boy do I feel sorry for them._

_He knows? Oh no, I'm screwed…_

Haou heard Edo start muttering under his breath before walking away as well.

The brunette had almost decided to leave when Yusuke had said Ryo did a better job with Jehu than he did, but he decided to stick around, knowing he could miss something important.

Luckily, he heard it.

Geez, since when did he develop such a stalker complex?

_But, what did he mean by _goal?

* * *

"So Ryo, decided to take a ride on the wild side at last, huh?" Jehu asked, amused as he looked out the window of the passenger's seat.

Didn't he have a car?

Well whatever, who needs a car when you have your own personal driver?

"You're an idiot."

"I know."

"You're annoying."

"Yup."

"You make my life a hell sometimes, or turn me into your personal babysitter or driver."

See? "Yeah."

"Makes me wonder why we're friends."

"Mystery, huh?"

Ryo turned to look at the shorter bluenette when they reached a red light. His eyes locked onto curious amber.

He shook his head and turned his attention back to the road.

The rest of the trip was left in silence.

Just what were they doing?

Ryo didn't even know anymore.

Here he was, helping Jehu ditch school, and for what? To keep him from getting caught high by the administration? He knew Jehu would just be like this again tomorrow.

He always knew the bluenette didn't know how to manage his stress well.

They arrived at Ryo's house a few minutes after their lunch break ended.

"Get out of the car."

"Aye aye, captain," Jehu mocked.

Ryo brought a hand through his hair. Lord help him…

They went inside the hose and Ryo pointed up the stairs. "Go wash up."

"Nah."

"Your clothes reek of weed, go wash up." Seriously, how does the administration never catch him? He never tried to hide it if he was under the influence before and he sure as hell isn't trying to now.

"Don't want to." Jehu was about to enter the kitchen when Ryo grabbed the back of his shirt and began dragging him up the stairs.

"You're getting in the shower if I have to throw your ass in there." Ryo shook his head. _God, I sound like a parent…_

Jehu smirked. "I'll take a shower only if you join me."

… Yeah, he was going to throw him in there.

Possibly drown him too while he was at it.

Fifteen minutes later, Ryo found himself in the bathroom with his back facing the shower while Jehu was standing under the water.

_Persistent little…_

Ryo couldn't believe how hard it was to get Jehu to cooperate when he was high.

_He should be complacent, not the opposite…_

"Are you sane yet?"

Jehu tilted his head back and closed his eyes. "Define sanity."

"… You're fine."

Jehu took a step back and opened his eyes to look at the taller bluenette. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine, it's not like you can help being an idiot."

Jehu chuckled lightly. "I fucked up again, didn't I?"

"Probably. But then again, that isn't anything new, is it?"

Ryo was his best friend, but damn, he could be pretty harsh when he wanted to.

"No, it isn't."

They fell into silence, the only sound heard was that of the running water.

"Jehu—"

"Ryo—"

They stopped and shook their heads slightly.

"Look, you're old enough to know what you're doing, and you were doing alright up until your break up. I didn't know you were the kind that fell into depression after that sort of thing."

Jehu rolled his eyes and turned off the water. "I'm not depressed."

"Then what the hell are you doing?"

"… Good question." Jehu pulled the curtain back and picked up a black towel to wrap around his waist.

Ryo turned around when he felt it was safe to look. The two stared at each other.

"Jehu—"

"Chill. Something's bound to happen, right?" He smirked a bit, before looking away and walking out of the bathroom. "Thanks Ryo."

The other nodded.

"Still would've liked it if you joined me, like when we were younger," Jehu teased.

Ryo rolled his eyes. "We were five and under Jehu, that was the last time that will _ever_ happen."

"You sure? I bet I can get you drunk enough to—"

"_Don't_ even think about it."

Jehu laughed and he entered Ryo's room to borrow some clothes to change into.

Meanwhile Ryo shook his head. _This kid…_

* * *

A week passed, and Haou and Jehu pretty much reverted back to how they used to be before the shrine incident. Jehu didn't drink, but he still went to parties, and ran away almost every day. His parents stopped thinking of it as him running away and instead thought of it as him going out for a long time… and not knowing whether or not he was going to come back.

Jehu got his car back… only to have it stolen one wild night.

Haou on the other hand, his talkative nature didn't last very long. It almost seemed like it was just a growing phase, though Seira knew well enough to know that it wasn't.

She also wasn't on good terms with her husband at the moment, who didn't even seem to notice, since he was too busy thinking of ways to kill Vergil without having the blame placed on him.

Even when knowing that if someone killed Vergil, he'd be the first and only suspect.

* * *

It was three fifteen in the morning when Reiko was awakened by Sparkle barking like crazy while someone was knocking on the door.

"Vergil, go get the door."

"Get it yourself."

"Well aren't you a _gentleman_," Reiko mumbled with a roll of her eyes and she slowly got out of bed. Honestly, she was surprised they were even sleeping in the same bed, since all they had been doing recently was just glare at each other and worry and argue over Jehu. She put on a robe before making her way downstairs.

She had one hell of a surprise when she opened the door and found herself looking at an officer who was holding Jehu in place.

"Morning… Can I help you?"

"Your son…"

Reiko put a hand up. "Got it. Thank you for bringing him home."

"… Right." The police officer nodded before lightly pushing Jehu into the house. "Try to stay out of the streets so late at night, kid. There's a lot of danger around here."

_Most of which is probably _caused_ by Jehu…_ Reiko thought, with a fake smile on her face.

As soon as the officer left, she looked at Jehu. "You complete moron."

Jehu narrowed his eyes at her.

A loud slap echoed through the house.

Jehu blinked away his shock and nodded once, looking back at her.

He walked away.

Reiko shook her head and waited downstairs long enough for Jehu to walk into his room. She went up the stairs and entered her room.

"Our son was escorted by the police."

"And?"

"… Just thought you'd like to know."

"I told you that boyfriend of his was a bad influence."

Reiko slept in the guest room that night.

* * *

Seira walked into the kitchen, a hand running through her still wet hair. "Holy crap!" She stopped walking and stared at the… Enormous amount of food in the kitchen. She didn't even know they had that much food! "Haou sweetie," she addressed the teen that didn't seem to notice her. "What are you doing?"

Haou was finishing up putting some dark red violet frosted roses on top of a lavender colored cake. "Nothing," he replied absentmindedly.

Seira nodded a couple times, her mouth in an 'o' shape. She swiped her gaze over the whole kitchen again before turning her heels and walking back up the stairs.

"Isamu!" she yelled when she slammed open the door to their room. He jumped in his desk and turned around.

"What?"

"Things are bad."

"… Huh?"

"It's Haou! He's got enough food down there to feed _two_ armies! You know Haou cooks when he's depressed!"

"Figures."

Seira glared at him. "Fix this."

"Why can't you?"

"Because it's not my problem! And by that I mean I didn't cause it!"

Isamu rolled his eyes. "I'm busy."

Seira scoffed. "Find then. Come back to me when you decide to be a man."

She slammed the door shut as soon as Isamu opened his mouth to speak, not giving him a chance to defend himself.

Isamu gave a tired sigh and raked a hand through his brown hair. Just what did she want him to do?

This rivalry he had with Vergil was deeper than just hating his boss. It was…

* * *

A female employee walked into Vergil's office only to find him and Isamu throwing punches at each other, and slamming the other into the wall.

The young female was scared and she ran out of there as quick as she could.

The other workers were used to this kind of thing, since it had only increased recently, though it was her first day.

Welcoming sight, isn't it?

* * *

The sound of a door slamming shut brought the house to silence.

Reiko stopped petting Sparkle who lowered her head and whimpered. "Damn it Vergil!"

"Don't blame your son's attitude on me." The raven spoke coldly. Admittedly, he surprised Reiko, she didn't expect him to be so near, leaning against the threshold of the kitchen.

The purplette shooed Sparkle away before standing up and turning to face her husband. She noticed Sparkle seemed to look scared when passing by Vergil, but said nothing. "Oh, so now he's just _my_ son?"

"Always was."

She rolled her eyes. "You can keep them apart forever you know. They're soul—"

"I refuse to have any part of _him_ to be a part of this family."

"Oh come off it, Vergil. There's nothing wrong with—"

"I hate him."

"Your petty arguments—"

"He hates me too."

"Still, Jehu isn't you. And Haou isn't—"

"He doesn't want them together either."

"For fuck's sake! Stop interrupting me!" Reiko snapped, taking a step towards him.

Vergil eyed her disinterestedly before walking away, leaving her to glare at his back.

"Damn it Vergil!" She stormed after him and grabbed his wrist. "I mean it, I want you staying out of his life. Let him do what he wants."

"He already does."

Her hold on his wrist tightened. "And whose fault is that?"

"Yours." He pulled his wrist out of her grasp and walked away but not before Reiko said one last thing.

"Really now? Mine? And now the _ass_ who's suddenly demanding that he _stay away_ from the soul mate that hasn't been the easiest to get close to?"

Vergil didn't reply and instead walked up the stairs and into his office, knowing it was the only place Reiko wouldn't enter, she knew he wanted to be alone when he went in there.

The purplette huffed. She could only hope Jehu didn't develop this attitude problem Vergil had.

If so, God help Haou.

* * *

"Haou, sweetie, come out please," Seira spoke softly from outside Haou's locked door.

Her son refused to answer, he just sat on his bed with his legs crossed and a pillow hugged to his chest. Gold eyes were thoughtful, wondering why things always end up wrong even if they tried so hard.

"Haou, don't listen to your moronic father. Please talk to me."

He stayed silent.

Isamu walked out of his room and stopped by Seira. "Is he still sulking?"

His wife frowned at him. "Get out of here."

He rolled his eyes. "I don't want my son with _him_. I didn't even _know_ Haou was gay!"

"Does it matter?" She asked. "How dare you pull him away from Jehu?"

"Stop being so damn dramatic. It's not like I killed that asshole's son." _Although…_

"Don't even think about it." Seira ordered when she saw and recognized the look in his eyes. "You better stay away from both of them, I don't want you interfering with them anymore."

"He'll find someone else."

"You idiot! That isn't just some boyfriend, that's his _soul mate_—"

"Why? Because some senile priest said so? I thought soul mates where male and female!"

"Oh, so now you're homophobic? Get the hell out of here!" Seira pointed towards the stairs.

He narrowed his eyes. "I don't care if he's gay or not, I care about who he's with!"

"Isamu—" the sound of a window slamming open startled them into silence.

Seira tried the door again.

Locked.

"Haou?"

No answer.

She rushed down the stairs and out the door while Isamu successfully managed to break the lock and open the door after a bit.

Ignoring the cold weather, Seira's golden eyes went wide when she saw the window to Haou's room was open, with an equally shocked Isamu looking out of it.

"He's gone."

His wife shook her head slowly. "I didn't even know he could jump from a two-story window."

Anger flashed through Isamu's green eyes. "See? I told you! He's picking up stuff from that delinquent boyfriend of his!"

"Isamu!" Seira looked around. Haou was no where to be seen. "I hope he comes back before it gets dark… I hope he took a jacket."

Her husband scoffed.

What the hell had gotten into Haou? It was like he didn't even know him anymore.

Maybe he never really did.

* * *

So because the weather was throwing a tantrum, Haou found himself holding his jacket close to his face as he walked around an hour later.

He had no idea where he was going, or even if he had a destination in mind.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he bumped into someone.

And that someone was Jehu.

"J-Jehu?" He looked at his attire, which consisted of black shorts and a short sleeve shirt. "A-aren't you cold?"

At this point, Haou honestly didn't know if he could blame the weather for his stuttering.

He hadn't seen Jehu in weeks.

And now poof! Here he was.

He could feel the beginnings of his emotions starting to mix together.

He wondered how Jehu felt at that moment.

"Hey Haou." Jehu greeted simply. He couldn't pick an emotion running through him to act upon, so he settled for being calm. "Nah, I've never been affected by the cold." He noticed that Haou was shivering. He only wished he could give him a jacket, or pull him into his arms. But after all this time of not seeing each other, would he appreciate that, or hate him for it? "What are you doing out here?"

Haou looked away, thinking back to the scene he left the house for. "I wanted to get some air…"

Jehu didn't feel he had to point out that obvious lie.

"… My dad's being a jerk again. I just didn't want to be in the same house as him for the time." _He doesn't want me seeing you, and yet here you are…_

A nod. He knew exactly what that felt like. "Haou, you're going to get sick, you should go back home."

Haou looked up at him in confusion.

_That's_ what he says after not seeing him for so long, _to go home_?

Jehu smiled, seeing that look and knowing what it meant. He gave him a light kiss on the cheek and stepped back. "I hope to bump into you again like this, Haou. Only I hope I'll get a chance to stay longer." He turned around and walked away, leaving Haou standing there.

Seeing Haou made him realize that something needed to be done.

Haou realized that it suddenly got colder around him, yet his face felt warm. "D-damn you, Jehu," he mumbled after the bluenette was out of earshot.

He started walking back home, wondering how on earth Jehu could stand the cold so much.

Both wondered if things could return to normal soon.

Jehu knew it wasn't the right time.

Haou knew it wouldn't happen.

And they both knew Fate was around somewhere, laughing at them.

* * *

**Monkey: Yikes, I didn't realize how long this chapter was...**

**So what'd you guys think? I'm sorry if it didn't come out that great, I pretty much forced this chapter out so it wasn't the easiest to write... **

**So... anyone know what's the deal between Isamu and Vergil? Anyone know who Edo likes? **

**Anyway, I'm sorry if it seems like not much happened in this chapter (despite its length), originally this chapter was going to have a lot more happen, but at fourteen or fifteen pages (I forget), I thought it was already long enough so I cut it in half. **

**Next chapter though, be on the lookout! Some stuff will go down! Yes, I will eventually update this again! Thank you for all of you that have stayed with this story so far, and have been very patient, you guys are wonderful :DD**

**See you guys later! **


	11. Starting Over

**Monkey: ... Well I'd rather save my long ass excuse for taking so long to update for the end of this chapter. **

**But because I took so long to update, I made sure to write a lot, lol.**

**Enjoy the chapter :)**

* * *

Haou had fallen asleep on the couch in the living room while waiting for his cake to finish baking.

Seira walked by and smiled. Her son need a break every once in a while, though she knew he would never admit it.

The back door to their house opened loudly, drawing Seira's attention to it.

"Isamu?" Gold eyes blinked in confusion. Why was he home so early? He shouldn't be home today for at least another seven or so hours, since his schedule always varied.

Maybe it wasn't Isamu?

Her eyes narrowed.

_Let's see… there's plenty of knives in the kitchen if it comes down to it…_

"I'm home."

… _I could still use those knives…_

Seira frowned and walked towards the hallway where he was hanging up his coat. "Why are you home? Did you forget something?"

"Nope." The brunette turned to face her and grinned. "I quit."

"You what?" Her jaw dropped.

Neither noticed Haou began to stir on the couch.

"I. Quit." Isamu's grin went away and green eyes avoided his wife.

"You _what?_! I'll kill you!"

Her yells finally woke up their son who ignored the fight and made his way into the kitchen slowly, still half asleep. His parents didn't see him, thankfully blocked by a wall.

"Relax. I'll find another job easy," Isamu dismissed, admittedly not trying very hard to calm his wife.

"That's not the point! Why on earth would you quit? And for God's sake don't tell me it was because of Haou and Jehu!"

Isamu met her gaze but didn't answer. No matter how many fights he'd had with Vergil, Seira was the only one who actually scared him when she got like this.

"You _idiot_!"

Haou had taken out the cake, a simple one layer chocolate cake. Normally, he would begin to decorate it, making each of his cakes unique, losing himself in his creative decorations.

But not today. With his parents arguing so close to the kitchen and no signs of moving into a more private room, he didn't want to be there at the moment. Not when he didn't need his father's answer to know that he and Jehu were the reason why he decided to quit.

Was his relationship, if he could even call it that, really that bad? It's not like it was his fault, he didn't want this, he didn't ask for any of this. He was just trying to please his mother that day.

He frowned, feeling his eyes begin to water. There was no way he would cry there. There was no way he would cry at all, he wasn't like that, he was stronger than that.

He set the cake out then walked out of the kitchen, heading up the stairs and into his room. He took in a deep breath and closed his eyes, calming himself down.

_I don't even get it, why do my dad and Jehu's dad hate each other so much?_ Haou wondered as he debated whether or not to take another nap. It wasn't like he had anything else to do at the moment. _Even more so, things only got bad when they found out who we were dating, they had been working together for years just fine. It's so stupid._

Haou sighed and picked out a change of clothes before heading over to take a shower.

_I guess I shouldn't worry. If he and I are really soul mates, then eventually everything will be ok…_

* * *

Vergil walked into his office and noticed that Isamu was late.

Unusual, even for him. No matter how much they hated each other, they unfortunately worked really well together, as surprising as that is.

When he reached his desk, everything made sense.

Isamu's letter of resignation was lying there, innocently.

Isamu had even cleaned up his desk, to make the white letter stand out more.

_Interesting._

He took the letter and dropped it in the trash can by his desk without even opening it.

Casually picking up his phone, he dialed the first number he remembered.

"Fujioka, get your secretary to find me another assistant."

"Yes sir."

Vergil hung up and walked over to the window, looking down at most of the city.

"It's about time."

* * *

Vergil once again walked into an empty office.

_So it seems Isamu's threats of quitting finally came true._

He brought his cup of coffee up to his lips, frowning slightly when he realized it just wasn't the same, knowing his coffee hadn't been spiked or tampered with. It took the fun out of everything.

He sipped his coffee. It was perfect, just the way he liked it.

So why didn't he feel happy about that?

Lost in his thoughts, he barely heard the door to his office open.

Through the reflection in the window, Vergil saw it was a sl—his new assistant.

"I've brought some papers for you to sign." She said as he turned around to sit at his desk. He looked up at her disinterestedly as she handed him a stack of papers.

What was her name again?

Shiru? Yura?

"Thank you, Mika." At least he remembered at the last second. He purposely avoided looking at her as she smiled and walked out of his office.

Not even an hour had passed when she walked back into his office.

"Excuse me, I know you're very busy, but," she changed the tone of her voice, going for a more seductive sound that she knew drove men wild around her. "I was wondering if—"

"Mika," he interrupted, not once looking up from the paper he was reading.

"Yes?" Her smile grew as she shifted a little, consciously revealing more skin to her boss.

"You're fired."

Her jaw dropped. "What? Why?"

"Because I said so." Vergil reached for his near empty cup of coffee. What kind of assistant didn't even bring him more coffee, especially when he saw he was going to have to pull another all nighter at work?

"But you can't do that! I just started working here!" she exclaimed angrily, her perfectly manicured hands curling into angry fists.

Vergil signed the paper in his hands before starting on another pile of papers.

"And now you're not working here."

"Ugh!" She cursed at him before turning on her five inch heels and storming out, making sure to slam the door shut behind her.

Didn't girls know that mini-skirts, slutty stilettos and an excessive amount of cleavage and make-up had no place in the business world?

He didn't even look up at her when she finally left and just continued working.

Making a mental note to ask Fujioka for another assistant, he signed yet another paper.

At least with Isamu, he never had to worry about being seduced.

* * *

Asuka watched Haou with a frown as he worked in the school's kitchen.

For days now, instead of spending lunch with friends, Haou had been making food nonstop, whether it was just making some very complicated meal or baking enough cupcakes or cookies to feed the whole school, he spent all his time in the kitchen.

The administration allowed him to do as he wished simply because they were able to eat his delicious cooking. Seriously, it was five start cooking, especially compared to the crap the lunch ladies made and called "school lunch."

She knew he enjoyed doing what he was doing, but he did this to run away from the possibility of meeting Jehu during lunch.

From personal experience, she hadn't seen Jehu in a long time either.

"Haou, you should come out to the quad and get a little fresh air, it's too stuffy in here," Asuka called out, walking into the kitchen.

The brunette barely glanced at her as he pulled out a fresh batch of red velvet cupcakes.

"I'm fine, really." Haou sighed as he decided which kind of frosting to use.

"No, you're not. Come on, Haou. It'll do you some good." The blonde urged, taking a hold of his hand and pulling him towards the door.

"W-wait! My cupcakes!" Haou began, his hand reaching out to his freshly made cupcakes. "I'm not don't yet!"

"You are now!" Asuka replied cheerfully and Haou barely managed to hang up his apron on a rack before he was dragged out of the kitchen.

_If I had known getting Haou out of there would be this easy, I would've done it already!_ Asuka mentally cheered, pulling her friend along.

"B-but! They'll get cold! I don't want to go to the quad!" Haou protested along the way.

Deep down, although neither said it, they both knew that if Haou _really_ wanted to, he wouldn't have been dragged out so easily.

But both chose to ignore that.

They made it out to the quad in no time, and it only took a couple minutes to finally catch sight of the elusive bluenette… sleeping with his head resting on Kayako's lap.

Asuka and Haou stopped walking.

The blonde smiled at finally seeing Jehu. She didn't want them to spend all lunch looking for him and end up not finding him, that would discourage Haou even more.

Haou on the other bit his lower lip as he looked at the two.

He remembered Jehu's words at the park one day, how they were just friends.

But the way they look, so peaceful, with the raven casually raking her hand through dark blue hair as he rested.

In an instant, he made a decision.

Haou refused to let himself be sad. He pulled his hand out of Asuka's grasp and quickly walked away.

"Haou? Haou!" She rolled her eyes and followed after him, not wanting to let this chance pass them by.

Kayako vaguely heard someone calling out Haou's name and looked down at Jehu's face, wondering if he would stir.

Nothing.

They were under a large tree, one of the few shade providing spots in the quad. She looked to her left and found someone stopped beside her. Following her gaze up, she saw Ryo.

They hardly knew each other, only having recently met through Jehu.

The tall bluenette crossed his arms over his chest. "You realize what this must look like if Haou were to come by, right?"

"Hello to you too," Kayako replied. _I wonder if he saw Haou earlier._

"Yes, I saw Haou earlier."

She cocked a brow. "Jehu wasn't kidding, it's like you _can_ read minds."

Ryo glanced down at her. "You guys look like a couple. I thought you wanted them together, not split up? Didn't you say something about Haou misunderstanding you guys the first time around?"

Kayako rolled her eyes. "Pfft. Me and Jehu? I don't think so. Take a real good look at him."

Ryo shifted his gaze to the bluenette for a couple seconds before he gave a tired sigh. "He's not sleeping, the idiot passed out."

"Yup. He walked over to me a little while ago, told me he missed Haou, and passed out. What was I supposed to do, leave his body there for the administration to find?"

"I would." Ryo replied.

Kayako grinned. "No you wouldn't." He was too much of a softy, especially for his best friend, no matter how many headaches the smaller bluenette caused him.

Jehu began to stir in her lap, his amber eyes slowly opening.

He had a hard time getting his vision to focus.

"The fool awakens."

"Welcome back to the world of the living."

Ah, such wonderful friends.

Jehu raised a hand to cover his eyes from the sunlight. "I think… someone put something in my drink… would explain why my juice didn't taste like orange juice…"

Ryo scoffed. Who gets fucked up at eleven in the morning? "You'll never learn."

"Noo… I can't drink… I promised Haou I wouldn't… Bastards spiked my drink… I just wanted some juice…"

Kayako and Ryo exchanged glances. Before either could say anything, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch.

Ryo extended his hand out to him. "Come on, we have class."

Jehu groaned before removing his hand from his eyes and clasping Ryo's outstretched hand. He pulled him to his feet.

"I'm a bad soul mate."

"No you're not."

"I feel like shit."

"Well maybe that'll teach you not to be so stupid."

Kayako just laughed at them before saying bye and heading to her class.

Jehu swayed and Ryo kept a hold of his shoulders to keep him steady.

"Where's your stuff?" Ryo noticed he didn't have a backpack with him.

"…" Jehu thought for a bit. "… I don't know…"

His best friend shook his head. _Oh Jehu._

* * *

"Ok Haou, stop." Asuka ordered, stopping in front of the door to the kitchen, her arms spread out to block him from opening the door. "You're going to tell me exactly what's going on with you. Why'd you run away when you saw Jehu? I thought you wanted to see him?"

"No, _you_ wanted me to see him. Me, I'm fine going about my day without having to do that."

"Haou," her voice softened. "I know you miss him. I know you've been avoiding him since the fight your dads had, but you shouldn't do that. I'm sure he wants to see you too."

Haou looked away and muttered, "If he did, he would've tried to find me and not spent his time at those wild parties of his."

She slowly lowered her hands, figuring it was safe to do so. "What do you mean? How do you know he hasn't been looking for you and has been to parties?"

He looked back at her, his expression hard to read. "Because there are rumors flying everywhere! How would you like it if your so called soul mate had as bad a reputation as Jehu does?"

She crossed her arms over her chest. Seriously? Haou paid attention to the rumors of Jehu _now_? "Haou, come on. Those kinds of rumors have surrounded Jehu since freshmen year, you can't tell me you're only just now starting to pay attention to them! I know Jehu, I know he's a sweetheart and wouldn't do all those things."

Haou shook his head. "I need to get back to my cupcakes." He walked towards and reached out to the door. Asuka caught his wrist.

"Not yet, we're not done."

She just wanted him to know that Jehu, well, he probably _was_ out at parties, but that didn't mean she didn't hear the other rumors as well, that he was sad because it had been a while since he'd seen a special person in his life.

"Yes we are."

"No we're not. Look, I'm sure he's had his ups and downs, but I'm also sure he misses you, you guys hardly had a chance to really get to know each other, but I know that he tried to get to know you more, even when you rejected him." She let go of his wrist and waited for his answer.

Haou began to shake his head. "It won't work out." He didn't wait for her to reply as he went into the kitchen and shut the door behind him, leaning against for a bit before grabbing his apron and going back to his cupcakes.

_I miss you, Jehu. Why can't we be a normal couple like everyone else?_

Outside, Asuka looked down. She didn't want Haou to go through this, or Jehu. But what could she do?

_It's not like I could get them together with—_ She raised an eyebrow before a smirk spread across her face. _Oh yes I can. As long as I get help from a certain someone._

The bell rang, interrupting her thoughts.

_Oh shoot, here comes calculus. Oh well, I'll figure things out after class._ She opened the door slightly to see if Haou would come out, but she saw he was busy decorating his cupcakes.

Looks like he would skip yet another class this week.

She would laugh if the situation was different, because it seemed like Jehu was rubbing off on Haou, without them knowing.

Asuka closed the door and gathered her things after she reached her locker before rushing to class.

Haou would owe her _big _time for this.

* * *

"Make yourself at home," Ryo said as the two walked into his house a few days later. "Like always," he didn't forget to add.

Jehu collapsed on the couch. "My head hates me." He hadn't slept much, if at all, last week and today he went to another party where his drink once again was spiked. He looked up at Ryo.

He shook his head. "Serves you right."

"Ryo," Jehu whined, "why are you so mean to me?" he watched him walk into the kitchen, craning his neck before giving up and sighing as he snuggled into the couch.

"I'm not. If I was, your ass would have been deported by now."

"I'm a citizen!"

"You'd be surprised what I can do." Ryo deadpanned.

Jehu turned on his side, getting a throw pillow to cover his head. "Heaven help the poor sucker who falls in love with you." His muffled voice called out.

"Yeah, and Hell help Haou." Ryo walked out of the kitchen with a glass of water and went over to Jehu. "Here's some water, I'll go get you some aspirin."

He barely heard Jehu sigh. "Just put it on the ground, I'll get it when you come back."

Ryo shrugged and did so then left.

School sucked for Jehu, every time he tried to concentrate in class his head would start painfully throbbing, cutting off all his thoughts. Yes, he could concentrate in class, he just didn't like to. It was boring and all that mattered were tests anyway, so that's how he kept his grades up.

He heard Ryo walk down the stairs.

"Ryo," He whined under the pillow, "I'm a lousy soul mate."

Dark teal eyes rolled. "What exactly did you have to drink?"

"Orange juice."

"And what did it taste like?"

"… Vodka."

Ryo arched a brow. He spoke slowly, like he was addressing a small child. Hell, that wasn't too far off. "And you didn't think that maybe that was a bad thing?"

Jehu threw the pillow at him before taking the aspirin and the water.

"Anyway, have you heard some of the more recent rumors about you? Your bad reputation is starting to make my reputation go bad too."

Amber eyes looked up. "Actually no, I haven't talked to Edo in a while. Can I see your phone?"

Ryo motioned for him to move and Jehu sat up, the taller bluenette sitting next to him, giving him his phone. Jehu changed his position again, bringing his legs over the armrest and laying his head down on Ryo's lap.

"No."

Jehu stuck his tongue out and made no effort to get off. He texted Edo that he was using Ryo's phone since he didn't know where his own phone was.

Ryo tried pushing him off his lap but gave up and settled for watching tv instead.

About a minute after he sent that text, he got a reply from the silverette.

He blinked a few times. "Wow. I forgot how fast he texts."

"What did he say?"

"Dude! Jehu! Where have you been? You will not believe what's being said about you lately! It's like everyday things get worse! Or better, depending on how you see it. But anyway, the rumor mill is working triple time with you! You are either one really lucky guy or Karma really hates you."

"… And you gave him my number?" Ryo asked.

"Sorry." He texted back, 'So… are you going to tell me what people are saying? You know I like to be informed about what's going on with me.' He stared at the phone before it vibrated in his hands a few moments later. "No wonder I don't text him often, he goes crazy with it."

'Well rumor has it that you and Haou are—ah hang on, my battery's dying, I'll text you later, ok? Ttyl.'

"… What the heck."

Ryo found nothing interesting on to watch so he just settled for watching a football game. "Have you gone to look for Haou?"

Jehu turned on his side again, his back facing Ryo. "I actually bumped into him a while back."

"And?"

"And he was having trouble with his parents because of me."

"So?"

"What do you mean so?"

"Forget it. I'm surprised you didn't kidnap him."

Jehu turned to face him. "Seriously?"

"No."

Ryo turned off the tv. "I did expect you to go and kidnap his father to force him to accept your relationship."

"… Seriously?"

"No."

Jehu made a face. Ryo looked to be in deep thought for a bit before sighing and standing up, making Jehu hit the floor.

"Hey!"

Ryo placed his arms on his hips as he lightly kicked Jehu who made no effort to get up. "Let's go to a party."

"Really?"

"No."

"Geez."

"Ok, yes."

"What?"

Ryo leaned down and pulled him up by his shirt. "Come on."

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

* * *

"I thought you didn't like this kind of thing!" Jehu yelled over the loud music at the club that prevented people from hearing each other unless they screamed.

Ryo just pulled him along, heading for the bar.

"Since when do you drink?"

"You're surprised?"

"Hell yeah I am!"

"Jehu!" two girls yelled, drawing his attention.

"Asuka? Kayako? You two know each other?" Jehu looked at them in disbelief.

"Of course!" Asuka replied, smiling. Time to put their plan into action.

"Since when?"

"Since who cares? You ready to party?" Kayako leaned over the counter and waved to the bartender. "We'll have… four Rising Suns please!"

Ryo shook his head. "Make it three. I'm heading out early tonight."

"Aw, you're not going to party with us?" Asuka asked, walking over to him.

He smirked. "Nah, just wanted to make sure this idiot got here safely."

"So you _do_ care!" Kayako teased as she watched the bartender make their drinks.

"Wait, only two, I can't drink," Jehu began, stopping the guy.

"What? Why not?" Asuka asked, inwardly grinning because she knew what he was going to say.

"Although I do get my drinks spiked, I don't purposely drink, I told Haou I wouldn't."

"Haou? Hey, I was gonna say something to you about him," Kayako began, bringing a finger up to her chin, tapping it lightly. "Oh yeah! He's here!"

"He what_?_!" Jehu's jaw dropped. Haou was here? Of all places? Haou didn't like parties or clubs! "He's here_?_!"

"Yeah!" Asuka chimed in. "He came with us!" Well, more like he was dragged there by them, but Jehu didn't need to know that.

"Where is he?" Jehu couldn't hide his worry even when he saw the two girls take their drinks happily.

"Huh? Oh uhm… I don't know," Asuka replied, drinking her Rising Sun.

"What_?_!"

Ryo chuckled at seeing Jehu like this. It was a pretty rare occasion.

"Yeah, he came with us, but he didn't want to dance or anything, so we just left him back there somewhere… In the crowd!" Kayako told him simply.

"What? Damn, has he left yet? Ryo!" He turned to face him and held out his hand expectantly. "Give me your keys, I'll drive him home."

The taller bluenette raised a brow. "Hell no, you are not driving my car."

Jehu moved to face Kayako, hand still outstretched. "Give me _your_ keys then!"

She pouted. "But it's late! How are we gonna get home?"

"You have legs, you can walk!"

Asuka turned her head so he wouldn't see her laugh.

"Fine! We'll stick with Ryo then! Here, but I warn you, you crash my car and I'll break your neck!" Kayako warned, tossing him her keys attached to a Hello Kitty key chain.

Jehu left them quickly, hoping that he could somehow find Haou amidst the wild crowd of crazy drunk people dancing to the beat of the music.

"Haou! Haou, where are you?" Jehu called out, shaking his head. He didn't mind shoving people out of his way but he didn't like it when random strangers started rubbing up against him.

_I can't believe those two brought him here! What were they thinking?_

He figured he was about in the middle of the dancing mass of people when a red blur caught his attention. He followed him as best as he could and called out to him.

"Haou!"

The brunette paused in his attempt to escape the crowd and looked around. Did someone call his name? It kind of sounded like Jehu…

"Haou!"

Amber and gold eyes locked.

"Jehu!"

Oh thank God! Jehu was there to save him!

Wait… Was he going to save him or was he going to suggest Haou stay there? No! He didn't like it there!

Someone pushed Haou from behind and he slammed into Jehu who wrapped his arms around him.

"Why did you come here? I thought you didn't like clubs!" Jehu asked, backing off enough to look down at Haou who looked scared.

"I don't! Kayako and Asuka dragged me here! Can we please go? I don't like it here!" He unconsciously got closer to Jehu, hoping that he could protect him from all the people grabbing at him. Clubs made him really uncomfortable, with all the people, the extremely loud music, the perverts that rubbed up against him. He didn't know how Jehu could deal with it so easily, but Haou was scared before he saw Jehu. He was afraid someone would try to rape him here.

Jehu looked closely at Haou and noticed that he looked truly scared and uncomfortable.

_They lied to me, they said he just came along._

He protectively put an arm around Haou's waist and led him towards the exit, trying to get him out of there as fast as possible.

People bumped into them and Haou gripped onto the back of Jehu's shirt just in case.

When they walked out of the club, Jehu pulled him close and leaned them against a wall.

"Haou, are you okay? Did something happen?"

The brunette, though still panicking about all the people, couldn't miss the worry in his voice. Against his will, his heart sped up, both at the closeness and the fact that he knew that Jehu really cared about him.

"N-no… I… I was scared. I didn't know where to go and those two left me and I didn't want to be here…" He avoided his gaze. Jehu would probably laugh at him now, for being so silly as to be afraid of a club.

Jehu lifted a hand up to caress his cheek to calm him down. "Come on, let's get out of here."

He leaned in, almost like he was going to kiss the brunette, but stopped himself before he could and slowly pulled back.

He was shocked when Haou reached out and took a hold of the front of his shirt, keeping him from pulling away.

With all the streetlights and even the club lights surrounding them, it was hard for Jehu to miss the slight blush that adorned Haou's cheeks.

The two stood there, Haou shyly looking up at Jehu while he just gazed down at him.

Jehu cleared his throat first. "Uhm… Let's go." He pulled away and reached up to take Haou's hand, to pull him along to Kayako's car.

_What am I doing?_ Haou thought.

_What's going on?_ Jehu wondered.

* * *

"So you think the plan worked by now?" Kayako asked, staring at her second round of Rising Sun.

"Of course! We planned it after all!" Asuka replied, trying to urge Ryo to taste her drink.

"Ok you two, you've had enough to drink tonight," Ryo asked, shaking his head at how little alcohol they could hold. "Let's go home."

"Yay! Party at Ryo's!" The two girls chorused.

He sighed before paying the bartender, taking their hands and pulling them out of the club.

Why was he always stuck with the drunk ones?

* * *

Haou tried his best to keep his eyes on the road ahead of them, but he found himself wanting to look at Jehu.

Gold eyes finally shifted over to the driver who was thankfully focused on driving.

It hadn't really been all that long, but Haou couldn't help it. He missed the blue haired bad boy, even if he wasn't all that bad. Somehow, after randomly jumping into his life, Jehu usually stayed on Haou's mind.

The streetlights and any neon signs they passed made Jehu's amber eyes appear to glow, drawing the brunette's attention more.

The bluenette finally seemed to notice he was being watched after feeling a pair of eyes on him for a while.

He blinked out of his focus and casually turned to face Haou who blushed at being caught looking.

"Something wrong?" Jehu asked, curiously, returning his gaze to the road. The last thing they needed was to get into an accident, then Isamu would never let Jehu date Haou.

For the last few minutes the two had been sitting in a bit of an awkward silence; Jehu assumed it was because Haou was embarrassed about what happened earlier.

The brunette looked to his right to distract himself with the passing cars. "No."

Jehu stopped at a red light and sighed, looking at his soul mate. "Look Haou, if you really don't want to do this…" He was talking about taking him somewhere, instead of just dropping him off at his house. He was surprised Haou even agreed, it was a school night and it was well after midnight. Maybe he was rubbing off on Haou. Oh boy, that would make Isamu even harder to convince…

Haou raised his eyes to see Jehu's reflection, and something shiny caught his attention, causing him to turn around to face him again.

"… I can take you—"

"Have you always had a piercing?"

"… Huh?" Jehu was momentarily confused.

Piercing? He didn't have a…

Did Haou mean the piercing on his ear that he woke up with one more after a wild party a few days ago? The diamond stud?

…

Oh crap.

"Uhm… no. I've had it for about a week or so." Jehu knew he wasn't stupid, he would probably get mad at him for having gone and done something stupid again…

The light turned green and Jehu turned back to the road.

"… I like it." Haou figured his face was probably scarlet right now, so he squirmed around in his seat, trying to stop the blush.

Jehu was a bit surprised, honestly. He chuckled lightly and brought the car to a stop. "Thanks. Well, we're here."

Haou successfully fought back the blush and looked around.

They were at a park in the middle of the city that had a small lake in it. It was perfect for star gazing at night, such a calming place.

Jehu noticed him hesitate. "Or do you want me to take you home?"

Haou shook his head and got out of the car. He smiled timidly and bit his lower lip. "Can we stay for a little bit?"

"Of course." Jehu got out as well and the two walked over to the lake and took a seat on the grass.

The bluenette made sure to look around closely, he was sure he would paint out this scenery one day, it was perfect.

The stars shining brightly despite being in a city. This place was known for being a couple hang out, but not this late at night. They were lucky, they were all alone that night.

* * *

"This son of yours is going to end up getting himself killed." Vergil said, setting down a cup of coffee.

Reiko rolled her eyes. "Again with this _my_ son crap," she mumbled.

"One day, we're going to get called up to identify his body."

"Pessimist."

"_Realist_," he corrected.

"It's not like this is the first time he's stayed out late on a school night," Reiko reasoned, glancing at the clock. Hell, one in the morning was considered early for Jehu sometimes.

"And it obviously won't be the last either."

Reiko sighed and walked outside, making sure to keep quiet so as not to wake Sparkle. Pulling out her cell, she scrolled through her contacts.

"Hello?" came the tired answer followed by a yawn.

"Ryo, I need to know where Jehu is."

About a year ago, Reiko had made sure she had Ryo's number. Even if she didn't always know where Jehu was, Ryo usually did. It also helped when Jehu didn't have his cell on him, or anywhere near him since he lost it not too long ago.

The bluenette glanced at his phone to check the time. It had been about an hour since he took the girls home and then went to his own house before taking a shower and going to bed. He couldn't help it if it was early, his friends could really wear him out. "He's partying."

"Goddamnit."

"No," Ryo sat up, his sheets pooling around his exposed stomach. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "It's Kayako and Asuka's plan."

"Who?"

"These girls— they planned a date with Jehu and Haou. It involved them all going to a club and having those two leave early."

"Oh. Well thank you for telling me, I just wanted to make sure Jehu wasn't dead somewhere."

"I understand."

"Goodnight Ryo."

"Goodnight."

_Let's hope their plan works then_, Ryo thought before lying back down and going to sleep again.

* * *

"If he's in jail, I'm _not_ bailing him out."

Seira rolled her eyes. "He's not going to jail, he's probably at a friend's house."

"What friend?"

"Ass."

Seira had to admit she was a little worried, but she wouldn't give Isamu the pleasure of knowing that. She tried calling Haou but his phone was off. It wasn't usual for him to stay out this late, the only time he didn't come home were the days when he stayed over at Jehu's house, but Isamu didn't need to know that.

_Jehu, if Haou's with you, please take care of him . _She knew that Jehu was a good guy, despite his faults, and she found it adorable how Haou reacted when he talked about him, before his idiot father came around and ruined things.

Isamu sneezed. "Stop dissing me."

"You deserve it."

_If he's with Jehu, I'll kill him._ Isamu thought. He shook his head a couple times. How could this have happened? He raised him right! He didn't care if Haou was gay, but seriously? Jehu? That demon's spawn? His son needs better taste in men.

Seira pinched him.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"Your face is scaring me." She knew it was his 'I'm gonna kill someone, probably Vergil, face' and she didn't like it.

"Well whatever, I'm going to bed. When Haou gets here, make sure to punish him." He grabbed a glass of water and headed up the stairs.

Seira rolled her eyes and went to sit on the couch to watch some tv. She decided she would wait for him to come back, to hopefully hear good news.

* * *

"Do you want this to work?" Jehu asked, breaking their peaceful silence.

Haou, who was sitting with his knees brought up to his chest, shifted his gaze from the stars to his so called soul mate. "W-well… Our dads…"

Jehu shook his head once. "This isn't about our dads, this is about us." Amber eyes stared deep into gold. "Do you really want this to work? We've already tried it once, and it was going well until our dads showed up."

"Do you?"

Jehu broke their gaze and looked back up to the stars. "Yes."

Haou let out the breath he didn't know he was holding.

"And no."

"What?" he asked quietly. He didn't understand. He looked down sadly.

"I do, but if you don't, then I'm okay with that. I won't force you into anything. I'm sure you'd much rather have someone better than me, someone who isn't so wild and crazy and an idiot."

"… I like you," Haou whispered.

Jehu's attention snapped back to him, eyes wide. "You do?"

The younger senior nodded slowly. He didn't want the other to ridicule him for admitting something like that. Or worse have him get angry.

His silence couldn't be a good thing. He hated him. Of course. What else could he expect?

He flinched when Jehu touched his cheek, noticing how close he had gotten. There were only a couple inches between their faces and Haou had no choice but to look up at him.

He didn't know whether or not he should be saying this but… "I like you too."

He leaned in and lightly kissed the corner of Haou's mouth, not wanting to freak him out.

Gold eyes blinked in shock. He offered a shy smile. "… I'm glad."

Jehu backed up and went back to his original spot beside Haou and looked out onto the lake. "Now the question is our dads."

"Yeah…" It was official, their relationship would never happen.

Jehu's laughter reached his ears and he looked up in curiosity.

"Don't look so down, we'll come up with something."

Haou smiled and nodded.

They spent some time in silence again before Haou spoke up. "Uhm, Jehu?"

"Hm?"

"Are you and Kayako just friends?" There. He said it. Now Jehu would surely laugh at him.

"Of course. Why?"

Haou looked down in shame. "I… saw you guys the other day during lunch and I assumed…"

"I was drunk."

The brunette looked at him in shock.

"No no no, it wasn't willing. Someone spiked my drink." He didn't want Haou mad at him for getting drunk, so he was quick to explain things.

Haou pouted slightly. "Don't let people do that."

Jehu grinned. _He's so cute._ "Believe me, I won't."

Haou let out a yawn.

"Tired?"

"Mhmm."

"Want to go home now?"

"Not yet."

Haou scooted a little closer to him and laid his head on Jehu's shoulder. It wasn't long after then that he went off to dreamland.

_He t__rusts me,_ Jehu thought. _And he likes me. _He placed an arm around Haou and sighed.

_Now to deal with our dads… Well, this ought to be fun_.

* * *

**Monkey: Alright, well I hope you guys liked the chapter. I must admit, I have no excuse for taking this long, I'm sorry. **

**But I'll begin with my excuse anyway, feel free to skip this.**

**I guess I can say that I had writer's block? Every time I sat in front of my computer to update this story, I just kind of sat there and... well, didn't.**

**Life has been... Interesting these past few months, and as a result I haven't really had a chance to update. **

**I'm sorry if I lost lots of readers for taking so long, but I will promise that I won't abandon this fic, it's coming to an end soon anyway.**

**Uhmm... I'm sorry for the mistakes that are bound to be here, I'm not one to go back and check my work, and after literally hours of sitting in front of my computer, forcing this chapter out, I don't really want to go back through it. **

**Oh, but I'd like to thank EmeraldTwinBlade, for reminding me of when we were extreme GX fans, and while she's also looking over her fic Severed Wings, I figured I should get down and update, even if it takes all day, which it did. **

**And despite it having taken all day, I feel like I didn't do a good job with this chapter. I'm sorry to disappoint you. I know Jehu and Haou are taking things slow (again), but that's how I wanted things to go, though, in a different way.**

**If I still have readers after all this time, thank you for sticking by to this story and I'll do my best to update within a week, hopefully.**

**And now I'm done since this AN is longer than my story XD**


	12. Taking Control

**Monkey: Hello~ Sorry for the long wait, again. **

**Happy Holidays everyone :3**

* * *

Jehu hardly moved, partly out of fear of waking Haou up. He wanted to relish in this moment of having Haou in his arms, figuring it won't happen again very soon.

The silence of the night brought an appreciated peace.

He watched Haou sleep. The perfectly calm and innocent look on his face. The slight movement with every breath he took. Jehu wouldn't deny the want to hold Haou like that all night, but he knew he had to take Haou back home to his surely worried parents. Moving as cautiously as he could, he placed an arm around the brunette's shoulders and the other carefully under his knees.

He felt lighter than before. Jehu wasn't sure how he felt about that. It kind of worried him. Was Haou not eating enough?

It was tricky opening the car door with Haou in his arms, but he managed.

The drive was quiet but short. He made sure to keep his eyes on the road, no matter how oddly strong the urge to look at Haou he had. He hoped he remembered Haou's address well enough to get him home. Jehu eventually found the right home and parked in Haou's driveway. He finally looked at him, finding himself doing that a lot this night.

_Inspiration for a later date_.

He briefly debated using Haou's phone to call his mother to come help him get the brunette out without disturbing Haou, but there was a chance his father would come out as well. He didn't want Haou to awaken to a confrontation. The point they'd made that night was that they needed to figure things out and fix them. And having a fight first thing wouldn't help either of them in this situation.

Picking him up and closing the door as quietly as he could, he made his way to the front door, guided by the lamps decorating the walkways between the houses.

Jehu shifted Haou in his arms a bit, trying to keep his balance as he extended a hand out to knock on the door.

The door opened before he had a chance to do so. On the other side stood Haou's mother, with a look of relief on her face. Jehu stared for a moment before understanding that either it was a mom thing, or she'd heard him coming. He kind of hoped for the latter, since the former reminded him too much of his own mother's scary way of being near omniscient.

"... Jehu?"

He nodded.

Her gold eyes stared into Jehu's amber ones as he shifted Haou to their original position. "Please tell me he's just asleep."

Her whisper prompted him to do the same. "Yes, he fell asleep at the park, and I didn't want to wake him up."

Seira looked back into the barely lit house before stepping aside and ushering Jehu inside.

"Where's his room?"

She carefully closed and locked the door before turning to face him. "Upstairs, first door you'll see."

Jehu nodded and began walking in the direction of the stairs, making sure not to trip while holding the still sleeping brunette.

Seira didn't miss the way Jehu acted with her son, or the way Haou unconsciously snuggled into Jehu's chest more. A knowing smile spread over her lips as she followed them.

_Isamu should see this._ She cringed as that thought and all its possible consequences registered in her mind. _Or maybe not..._

She leaned her side against the threshold of Haou's room, watching how Jehu gently placed her son on his bed. He took off his shoes and pulled the blanket over him.

Forgetting that he was being watched by Seira, he reached a hand out to lightly caress Haou's hair. He stopped short when he realized they weren't alone and looked up at Seira with wide eyes.

She smiled. "Care to tell me what happened?"

Jehu retracted his hand slowly as he lowered his gaze back onto Haou. "We were at a club. A couple friends of ours... they set us up, so that he and I would meet there."

Seira raised a brow. "But Haou hates clubs, doesn't he?"

Jehu remembered Haou's scared look and nodded. "I'm not sure what their intention was, but once I found out Haou was there, I got him out." His eyes locked with hers. "We took a detour to the nearby park. I'm sorry for bringing him home so late."

She blinked at the truly contrite gaze coming from the blunette. She thought for a moment. Isamu had absolutely nothing to worry about, Jehu was perfect for Haou. First impressions she knew didn't mean much most of the time, but this time she was sure what she saw was dead on. Jehu had made a good first impression on her, despite the state of her son. She smiled. "It's alright. I'm just glad you brought him home."

Jehu was about to reply, but he paused, amber eyes looking in the direction of the open door. Seira watched him for a bit, wondering what he was doing.

He quickly gave Haou one last glance before making his way to the window. He raised the blinds, opened the window and placed his hand on the cold glass, looking back at the confused Seira.

It wasn't until that moment when she heard footsteps coming towards them.

_Isamu?_

She was impressed Jehu had heard him so easily. He was a lot like Haou, oddly perceptive to things most weren't, including herself.

"Sorry for the trouble. Have a goodnight."

And without waiting for her response, he jumped swiftly out the window. Seira gasped, then rushed to the window and saw a quick shadow make its way to the driveway. A door opened then closed. An engine roared to life and she saw a car make its way out of their neighborhood.

"He was here, wasn't he?" Isamu exclaimed, rushing into the room.

"Shhh!" Seira hissed, turning around and pointing to the sleeping Haou who moved around in discomfort. "Yes he was, what of it?" She glared, she wasn't about to let him wake Haou, especially this early in the morning.

Isamu ignored her, noticing the opened window she was standing in front of. "I knew that delinquent was the one who taught Haou how to jump out of a window."

Seira rolled her eyes. "Go back to sleep, fool. He's gone. And I'll have you know, he's the sweetest guy, carrying Haou all the way in here, without waking him up. He even apologized for having Haou out so late, even though he saved him from a club." She knew of her son's slight fear for clubs, and mentally approved of the plan his and Jehu's friends came up with. It was a perfect way to get them together that night.

Isamu walked towards Haou who buried himself under his blankets as he slept.

_Almost like he's avoiding Isamu. Ha._ Seira thought, amused.

"Why is he sleeping?"

Her eye twitched at the question. "Because it's nighttime, when most people are asleep? Because he's tired? He's had a long day? And night?"

"Is he drunk?"

Seira shook her head. "No, now get out, you're going to wake him."

Isamu crossed his arms over his chest. "When he does, I'm going to have a word with him. I don't care if he's a nearly eighteen, I don't want him coming home after two in the morning."

"Since when have you cared about what time he came home?" True, before Jehu came into the picture, Haou rarely ever went out. In fact, she really couldn't remember a time when he did. She liked that being near Jehu was causing him to experience life a little more, even though he probably didn't realize that.

She walked over to Isamu and took him by the arm, dragging him away. She closed the door to Haou's room behind her and didn't stop dragging her husband despite his protests. They stopped when they reached their room.

"I give them my blessings."

Isamu narrowed his eyes. How could his wife take his side? Why wasn't she worried about Haou? Why didn't she care that he was seeing a delinquent that would only get him shot one day? "... We'll talk in the morning." He went towards the closet, pulled out some clothes and put them on. He walked out of their room and Seira heard the front door close not long after.

She let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding and shook her head, bringing a hand up to rake through her raven locks. "Tch. And he wonders why Haou is the way he is." She thought back to the bluenette bringing her son home. She smiled again, climbing into bed. She wouldn't lose sleep over not having Isamu around. Haou was home at least, and he looked so content with Jehu, even though he was sleeping. "They totally have my blessings."

* * *

Jehu felt like he'd closed his eyes for two seconds before he was rudely awakened by a door slamming open and his mother's loud footsteps following right after.

"Jehu! You've got three seconds to explain why you're hungover this time!" She really hoped he wasn't, or he might've screwed up his already deteriorating relationship with Haou even more.

Her son groaned. "I'm not."

She gave an imperceptive sigh of relief, placing a hand over her heart.

"Then why did you come home so late?" If Jehu would have turned over to face her, he might have noticed the smirk on her lips, her anger feigned. Jehu was stupid if he thought that she wouldn't notice him sneaking back into the house in the early hours of the morning, heading straight to his room. But since she knew what he'd been up to, she figured he'd let him get a couple hours of sleep before storming into his room and causing a ruckus.

He sighed deeply into his pillow, then moved his head to the side to breathe. He kind of really didn't want to face her. He didn't need to admit it, it was obvious his mother scared him, with her scary ways of doing things in life. Like the piranhas, which he hadn't seen in a while actually. He decided to answer carefully. "I was with Haou."

"Uh-huh. I see." She nodded, crossing her hands over her chest before bringing a hand up to curl the bottom of her purple hair around her finger. "Did you two have wild, steamy—"

"Mom!" Jehu shot up, appalled, turning to face her. She laughed at his wide amber eyes and the faint blush on his cheeks.

She shrugged. "I called Ryo. He told me of the chaos you were causing, or rather, the lack thereof."

Jehu sighed, looking down, the blush dying. He sat up properly before bringing a knee up to his chest, wrapping an arm around it. "I... I want to fight for him."

His mother cocked a brow. "What do you mean?" She walked towards the edge of his bed and sat down, staring at him, curious.

He kept his head down. "I think, maybe we can be soul mates." He raised his eyes, looking at her through his blue fringe. "I met his mother today."

"Oooh, and what happened?" She briefly reminded Jehu of a child expecting a wonderful story.

"I carried a sleeping Haou into his room, apologized for having him out so late then jumped out the window."

"Why did you jump out the window?"

"Because I heard Haou's father coming, and I didn't want a confrontation so soon with him."

Reiko nodded, before pulling her gaze from her son and settling it on the ceiling. She remembered how secretive Jehu had been about that painting when he was making it, and how proud she had been of him when he finally unveiled it. "Do you see yourself confronting Isamu?"

Jehu shrugged. "I guess, if circumstances really call for it, though I don't think it's what Haou would want. I would let Haou talk things out with him first, but I'd like to eventually talk to him myself, convince him that I'm not the worst soul mate for his son."

Reiko chuckled. Jehu looked up in curiosity. His mother laughing was rarely a good thing.

"What?"

"You're finally maturing!" She faced him, excited, before tackling him down with a big hug. "I was hoping for this sooner than later, and at the rate you were going, I was expecting this wayyyy down the line, but I'm glad it's starting to happen now." She squished him tighter and giggled when Jehu was frozen at first, before lightly returning the hug. She pulled back and sat directly in front of him. "So tell me, what are you planning on doing?"

Jehu tilted his head to the side in thought. "I'm not sure. We haven't decided on anything, except that we're somehow going to get our father's to let us be soul mates." He looked up at her. She shook her head with a smirk.

"Figures you'd just dive into things head first like always."

Jehu paused for a moment, his gaze going towards the door. "Where's dad?"

She shrugged. "Left sometime in the morning while you slept. Didn't say where to though." She'd never admit it, but that creepy sixth sense type thing he had going for himself weirded her out sometimes.

Jehu stretched before yawning. "... Oh fuck, it's a school day, isn't it?"

"Yup."

"Do I have to go to school?"

"Yes."

They stared at each other for about five seconds before Jehu fell back down on his bed.

"Wake up or I'll drag a crocodile in here."

Jehu was out the door before she could blink.

She laughed.

* * *

Haou felt himself slowly come back to the world of the living. He opened his eyes for a moment before shutting them tightly. He really didn't want to wake up.

_What happened last night?_

Flashes of a nightclub packed with people flooded his mind. People and...

Jehu...!

Haou opened his eyes quickly and sat up, causing the blanket to pool at his waist. He barely registered his room around him when he felt a light breeze sweep his hair to the side.

He turned his head to the opened window, frowning.

Why was it open? He never slept with the window opened.

"Y'know, your soul mate's pretty badass, jumping out of a two story window like it was nothing. Impressive." Seira's voice startled him as he quickly looked at the entrance of his room. He noticed his mother carrying a steaming cup of coffee, the smell alone erasing the sleep from Haou.

She chuckled, noting the look of confusion on his face before the look of craving for the coffee. She sat at the edge of his bed and handed it to him. Seira watched him stare into the coffee, thoughtful.

"What did you mean?"

"Hm? Oh, your soul mate was here. He carried you into bed and everything." She smirked. "I always thought you a light sleeper, but I guess you liked being in his arms."

So early in the morning, Haou couldn't help but blush darkly.

"Unfortunately, your moronic father woke up— did you know Jehu has the same creepy sixth sense ability that you have?— and he wanted to avoid a confrontation, so he jumped out the window."

Gold eyes stared, before shifting to the still opened window. He vaguely remembered spending time at the park with Jehu, before falling asleep against him.

_Oh man... I can't believe I did that!_

"I give you my blessings."

Haou snapped out of his reverie. "What?"

"I like that kid. Maybe a rough exterior, but a kind heart." She smiled softly. "And I can see you like him too."

Haou blinked curiously. "R-really?"

_Oh if only I could take a picture of that look._ Seira nodded. "Screw your father, you should fight for him."

Haou looked down into the black drink in his hands. It no longer produced steam signifying its lack of comforting dark warmth he always looked for in the morning. "I will. I want to talk to dad."

"I think that's a good idea."

He remembered the warmth of the bluenette. _Jehu..._

* * *

Edo put some of his books away at his locker, before replacing them with a couple others. His day had been pretty dull, lacking the usual excitement a certain bluenette brought everywhere he went. Sure, Jehu had been regularly coming to school now, but he wasn't as spontaneous as he had been. The rumor mill had momentarily paused, leaving him with nothing to do except pay attention in his classes.

He closed his locker and screamed when he saw the bluenette standing right next to him, leaning casually against the lockers. "I know who you like."

Edo paled. "Wha—How—But—"

Jehu smirked. "The look on your face and the stuttering confirms my suspicions." He leaned close to the silverette. "It's—"

"Stop!" Edo raised a hand up and covered Jehu's mouth. He could feel the senior chuckle through his hand. "I don't need you to say it. How the hell did you even find out?" He hissed the latter, narrowing his eyes at him.

Jehu removed his hand. "Random I know, but I figured it out. The looks, the words, your actions," he grinned innocently. "I know who it is."

Edo cringed at the sing-song tone in his voice. "There's no way you know, I haven't told anyone!"

Jehu shrugged. "I'm amazing like that. It's why I don't need to pay attention in class, I'm a great guesser." He looked up at the ceiling. "Anyway, you should go for it."

Edo nodded once before yelling, "Are you high? What makes you think he'll give me a shot?"

"Actually, no I'm not, I'm completely clean today, like I have been for a couple weeks now." He looked proud. "You never know unless you try." Jehu glanced down at Edo's hand, before looking like he was following an invisible path with his eyes somewhere down the hall. "I say you should do it."

Edo scoffed, placing the hand that Jehu had looked at on his hip. "This from the guy who can't even keep a hold of his soul mate?"

Jehu smiled. "Don't be so sure. I think it's about time Haou and I take the reigns from Fate and do our own thing." He backed away from Edo, crossing his arms over his chest and walking away.

"Wait, that's it?" Edo quirked a brow, pivoting on his heel to face the bluenette.

Jehu stopped and spoke without looking back. "It is if you take my advice." He paused. "By the way, what's the deal between you and Haou?" He looked back at him.

Sapphire eyes widened a fraction before returning to normal. He looked away. "Nothing."

"Right." He turned around. "See ya later."

And he walked down the hall, turning a corner and leaving Edo's sight. The silverette exhaled deeply and leaned his back against the lockers. What the hell was that? Jehu was hardly ever around him and he figured out who he liked? How? And if he could figure it out, did his crush figure it out too? "Damn." Edo shook his head, standing up straight and walking down the hallway to his next class, realizing he was late. At least no one was around to hear their conversation.

He hoped.

He reached his class, apologized for being late and took his seat.

"Open your books to chapter twelve, today we'll be covering..." Edo tuned out his teacher, but at least opened his book.

There, on the first page of chapter twelve was a folded sheet of paper. Curious, Edo opened the sheet while glancing at the teacher to make sure his attention wasn't on him.

It was a well drawn picture of his crush with the words _ASK HIM_ written in Jehu's elegant writing.

His eyes widened.

_How the hell did he... I'm gonna kill him._

Somewhere on the other side of the school, Jehu sneezed, then chuckled. Seems like Edo saw his drawing.

* * *

Asuka squealed happily when a basket of cupcakes was placed in front of her at lunch. "Ohmygosh! Thank you Haou!" Her mouth nearly watered at the sight of his freshly baked red velvet cupcakes, her favorite dessert. That one time Haou had made them during lunch before she had dragged him off to find Jehu challenged her willpower not to turn back to eat those cupcakes. She took two and began eating them, content.

He smiled. "You're welcome."

Fubuki and Manjyome each took a cupcake, knowing to leave Asuka most of them, otherwise they'd be in danger of feeling her wrath. Ever since she discovered the wonderful taste of Haou's homemade cupcakes, nothing would ever get between her and those delicious pastries.

"So what's the occasion?" Fubuki asked after finishing off his cupcake. He made sure his sister didn't see him and took another cupcake. "These are a rare event."

Extremely rare. The only time he made them was for Asuka's birthday or for the holidays.

He watched them eat, not taking one for himself. "Just felt like it."

"That's crap. You got laid, didn't you?" Manjyome asked, reaching for another cupcake.

Asuka slapped his hand away before taking another one for herself.

"What?"

"No, I didn't." He thought for a bit. "I guess it's a thank you to you guys for trying to help me and Jehu."

"Ahh, so I take it you two are engaged now?" Fubuki asked, excited.

Haou looked down. "... No."

"No worries," Asuka spoke in between bites. Her image be damned, these things were delicious. "I'm sure you will be soon." She took a drink of her water before smiling. "Jehu is one lucky guy, to have a master chef like you around. I'm so jealous."

Haou chuckled slightly, blushing. "I'll still make you these cupcakes if you want."

"Yes! I love you!" She squealed, jumping out of her seat and rounding the table to give him a big hug. She sat down beside him and stared at the cupcakes, wondering which one she should take next.

"You're going to get fat," Manjyome commented.

A week later, Manjyome still sported a bruise from where Asuka kicked him.

* * *

Over the weeks, Jehu and Haou had gone on a couple of secret dates. Trips to the mall, the movies and so on. They were short but sweet.

Haou especially liked their trip to the ice skating rink, even if it was technically a disaster of a date.

_Though I guess it's my own fault, since I'm the one that told him I've never been ice skating before_, Haou thought with a chuckle.

Only Jehu knew how to ice skate, a fact he clearly disliked. He blamed his mother, for forcing him to try a bit of everything when he was younger until he settled for painting and drawing. The bluenette kept trying to teach Haou to skate, and after a high amount of failure, Haou kind of got the hang of things allowing the two to skate around together.

He was quick to admit, that particular date was the most fun Haou had had in a really long time.

Currently, the two were sneaking around on another date.

Honestly, they used the term "sneaking" loosely because their mothers were aware of their dates, it was their fathers that were kept in the dark.

Jehu found no time to talk to his father since he made his decision because Vergil had just happened to be called away on a business trip somewhere on the other side of the world. Haou on the other hand attempted to talk to Isamu, but the latter would come up with something to do right when he wanted to talk and would leave him without hearing a word.

In short, the fathers were starting to wear their sons' patience thin.

Today they found themselves at the same park they were at that night a couple weeks ago, enjoying a private picnic.

Jehu was happy eating. "This stuff is so good Haou, are you going to be a chef when you grow up?" He reached for his drink.

Haou paused midway in raising his food to his mouth. He had never actually put any thought into it, even though everyone told him that should be his career choice. "I'm not sure. I mean I like cooking, and people say I'm good at it, but I don't know if there's something better for me." He watched Jehu look into the basket and pull out more food. "What about you?"

"Hm?" Jehu stopped chewing, his cheeks full of food.

Haou looked away and chuckled lightly. "Are you going to be an artist when you get older?"

"Maybe as a hobby, but I don't feel like drawing will be a good career move. I feel like I could do better, but my future career hasn't come by and smacked me in the face yet."

Haou nodded. "Have you applied to any colleges yet?"

"A couple, though I'm surprised since I'm such a procrastinator. Have you?"

"A couple too."

They talked a little more about college, and found they hadn't applied to one the other had.

This saddened Haou. He always knew high school couples split up if they didn't go to the same college, and if they didn't, they eventually did, because they couldn't bear the long distance relationship.

Jehu stopped eating when he noticed Haou's expression. He reached out and lightly caressed his cheek. "Hey, cheer up, ok? Remember, you and I are soul mates, which means it's okay if we take a break from each other in college, eventually you know we'll end up together."

Haou placed one of his hands over the one Jehu had on his cheek. He nodded.

_When did he change? _Haou wondered, thinking back to the time when he met the bluenette, and how they quickly got into a fight. _… When did I change?_

Jehu slowly pulled his hand away after Haou let him go, and he sniffed at the air a bit. "Did you…" he peered into the basket again, "oh yes! You did!" He pulled out a couple chocolate chip cookies. Before he started eating them, he looked at Haou, completely serious. "You need to give my mom your recipe, or else you won't have a soul mate because her toxic cookies from hell will end up killing me."

Haou stared at him for a few moments before he burst out laughing.

Jehu shrugged. "You think I'm kidding, but I'm not." And he happily began eating the cookies in his hand before proceeding to eating more from the basket.

He kind of hoped Haou didn't become a pastry chef, or any kind of chef in the future, simply because he wanted to eat Haou's food all to himself.

He choked on a cookie.

Haou gave him some water and afterwards, Jehu took back that thought.

* * *

Jehu and Haou sat under a tree at the park one afternoon, calmly talking to each other. They faced each other, gold staring deep into amber. Their peaceful silence was disrupted by a girl's yell.

"Jehu! Haou! I have something to show you!" Kayako rushed towards them, skidding to a halt before hitting the tree and sitting herself down between them with a large, skinny book in her hands.

Haou didn't mind being around Kayako anymore, or having her be near Jehu. The bluenette had told him of her and Asuka's plan for the club that night, and it actually made him happy they caused that, because things have been going very smoothly since. In fact, he saw her as a friend now, and that was saying something because he wasn't one to make friends easily.

Jehu quirked a brow. "What's that?"

Haou stared closely at it. "It's a yearbook?"

She grinned. "Yup! Look familiar?"

The bluenette caught sight of the year. "Is that from elementary school?"

Kayako giggled. "Oh yes, you wouldn't believe what I had to dig through in order to find it." She opened the book and flipped through its pages before stopping at a particular one and using her finger to mark the page. She looked up at them and closed the book. "Jehu, remember how you and I met in elementary school?"

He nodded slightly.

"Well, do you remember how you had another friend?"

"Ryo?"

"Elementary school, not neighborhood friends that unfortunately for Ryo, followed him the rest of his life…"

Jehu looked at her, confused. "No. You know I was in a car accident when I was younger and lost my memory of anything prior to the second grade."

At this, Haou looked at him in surprise. "You lost your memories after a car accident?"

Jehu looked sheepish. "Yeah, lame huh? This kind stuff seems to follow me."

"The only reason he remembers me is because I remembered him, showed him a picture of us in the first grade then he blanked before recognizing me," Kayako spoke, staring at Haou. "You lost your memories too, didn't you?"

"You did?"

Haou thought for a bit. "Yeah, my mom says I was climbing a tree when I fell and hit my head…"

Kayako grinned. "Ah, here comes my favorite part. Do you two remember what school you went to?"

"Some happy place that gave me really good cookies during lunch," Jehu replied honestly.

Kayako rolled her eyes. Of course.

Haou stayed silent for a bit. "Some place near here? I moved right after the first grade."

The raven nodded. She opened the book. "I caught it the day I saw Haou a couple months back. Look familiar?"

Jehu and Haou peered at the opened page for a moment before looking up at each other in shock.

* * *

A six year old Haou played by himself at the table with a few blocks. The school year was early and he didn't know really anyone. He rarely talked, even with the teacher. He just didn't like it. And his classmates didn't really know him either, so no one made an effort to go up to him.

It was lunchtime and most of the kids were outside playing on the jungle gym. His teacher watched him, sad. That poor little boy was lonely. She was about to walk over to him when a familiar bluenette came into view.

He took a seat besides Haou, careful not to disrupt the castle he was making. Their teacher watched, scared. Jehu was known as a little devil and the last thing she wanted was for Jehu to make Haou cry.

"Did you know that if you don't talk you're going to lose your voice forever and ever?" a young Jehu told Haou who stopped playing with his blocks and looked at him with misty eyes. He didn't particularly like talking, but that didn't mean he wanted to lose his voice forever!

"That can really happen?"

Jehu nodded confidently. "Yup." He noticed Haou looked like he was about to cry. "But don't worry, that's why I'm here, so you can talk to me. My name is Jehu, what's yours?" Before giving the brunette a chance to reply, he asked, "Would you like a cookie?"

He offered him one of his cookies. Haou sniffled a bit before shyly nodding. "Thank you. I'm Haou." He took the cookie and smiled.

Jehu started eating the last cookie he had. "I know it's not much, but cookies are really the only sweet things I like. That and my mom's cookies are gross, so I like eating the ones here." They were each usually given four small cookies to eat during their lunch and recess.

"It's ok, I like it."

Their teacher watched on, shocked. Jehu only picked on the other kids, not tried to befriend them! What's worse, he gave Haou a cookie, one of his precious cookies!

She watched the two giggle and start playing around with the blocks. A sigh escaped her lips. Well, at least they'd found a friend in each other.

Moments later, they were joined by a raven haired girl who also offered them some of her cookies.

To be honest, that warmed the teacher's heart. _I bet those three will be friends for a long time._

* * *

"But I moved, Haou moved and fell out of a tree and Jehu was in a car accident. So much for that friendship."

Haou and Jehu continued to stare at each other.

"That was you…"

A flash of red appeared between them, but Kayako was the only one to notice. She grinned to herself. _My work here is done._

She closed the book and stood up. "Well, I don't want to intrude on your sure to be super sweet moment, so I'll be off."

Before she could take a step, both boys stood up and took a hold of her wrists. She raised a brow. "What?"

"Thank you," they said, before hugging her.

She felt her cheeks grow warm but smiled and hugged them back. "Yeah yeah," she tried to play off her embarrassment, "no squishing the long lost friend."

They pulled away, smiling.

"Oh!" Jehu suddenly remembered something and stepped in front of Kayako. "Since you're playing matchmaker, I have a couple to suggest."

She waited. "Who?"

"Edo and his no-longer-a-mystery crush." He grinned.

Haou tilted his head to the side. "You figured out who it is?"

"Of course." He sounded proud. "It's a certain someone we know, a friend of ours…"

Kayako's eyes lit up with realization. "Ohmygod! I know who it is! And I know exactly what to do to get them together! I must call Asuka!" She pulled out her cell phone and ran off to her car.

Jehu watched her leave, laughing. "Oh man, Edo's gonna kill me when he finds out I sent her to mess with him."

Haou looked down, thinking. Who could it be? He felt Jehu wrap his arms around him and he leaned his head on the taller one's chest, thinking. "Is it…?"

"Mhmm."

Haou gasped and looked up. "No way."

"Yup. That was my reaction too." Jehu looked at the sky, mentally snapping a picture for later reference since the color blend was beautiful, and sighed. "It's getting late," he looked down into gold eyes. "I'll take you home."

Haou nodded. In the past week, Jehu's mother had gotten him a new car and he used it to drive Haou on to secret dates.

The ride back home was mostly silent, but they enjoyed it. Sometimes it was best just to be near the other.

Jehu stopped the car outside the house but didn't go into the driveway, since there was a certain car there.

"My dad's home!" Haou exclaimed, rushing out. He stopped, rushed back towards the car, leaned in through the window and smiled sheepishly. "Thanks for bringing me home Jehu, I'll see you later."

He laughed. "Not a problem. Tell me how things go, alright?"

Haou nodded and left again. Jehu waited until the brunette was indoors to leave, fully aware of the unhappy stare he was receiving from a pair of green eyes.

_Hmmm… mom's right, it is creepy that I know these things._ Jehu thought, going back home. _Maybe my dad will be home tonight._

* * *

Haou walked inside where he was greeted by his mother.

"Have fun on your date?"

Haou pouted. "Don't say it so loud."

"Why? Your father's asleep anyway," Seira said, walking over to him with a cup of coffee in her hands. Yes, she was the reason Haou loved coffee so much.

"No he's not, I could feel his glare before I stepped out of the car," Haou deadpanned.

She chuckled. "Still creepy you know that, but I get what you mean. That bitter moron. Now's your chance to go talk to him, I hid all his keys so he can't randomly escape."

Her son nodded. "Wish me luck."

She waved her coffee around and he made his way up the stairs.

He stopped outside his father's door. "Dad, can we talk?" He knocked twice for good measure.

No response.

Gold eyes rolled. "I know you're awake dad, I could feel the holes you were glaring into the back of my head when I was outside."

The door opened and Isamu raised a brow. "Whatever it is, can't it wait?"

"Actually no, it can't. I'm tired of always asking to talk to you," Isamu attempted to close the door but Haou stopped it with his foot, "and you never having the time to listen to me." He looked up at his father, forever unhappy that he never grew up to be taller than him.

The two stared at each other for a long time before Isamu opened the door all the way and walked to his desk. Haou followed, and stayed standing while his father sat down.

"So talk."

"It's about Jehu."

Haou noticed his father tense at the name but chose not to mention it. "… He's my soul mate dad, and I don't like that you can't accept that."

Isamu scoffed. "Why? Because some psychotic priest said so? If it weren't for him, you two would've never met."

Haou looked down. "That has nothing to do with—"

"Of course it does. It has to do with everything."

"Why are you so stubborn?" Haou asked, surprising his father. He figured Haou wouldn't put up too much of a fight with him.

"I'm being realistic. It's nothing more than a teenage fantasy for so called high school sweethearts to end up together after they graduate."

"We're not high school sweethearts we're—this has nothing to do with Jehu, why am I even trying? This has to do with your stupid rivalry with Jehu's dad."

Isamu raised a brow. "Watch your tone."

Haou grudgingly held his tongue.

"I'm not impressed."

"I don't understand. What do you want me to do, go around unhappy because my dad wouldn't let me be with the son of his enemy? I'm almost eighteen, I don't need your permission anymore."

"Then why are you asking for it?" Isamu's cold tone startled Haou. His father had never been one to be so serious, he was usually the parent that goofed off a lot. His mother was the one that was usually serious, and she was quick to give her son blessings.

_Because you're my father…_

Haou didn't look him in the eye. Isamu's green eyes were usually docile, not callous and harsh like they were now.

Jehu was rubbing off on him, he knew, because when a thought popped into his head, he spoke before thinking. "Dad, did you use to like Jehu's dad?"

Isamu's jaw dropped. "No! Ew! For God's sake, why does everyone think that?"

Ah, that was more like the Isamu Haou remembered.

"It's a long story."

Haou took a seat in front of his father. "The night is young."

* * *

"Mother! Stop trying to kill me!" Jehu yelled out, dodging Sparkle and bounding up the stairs. Sparkle's chain leash prevented her from following him, but she barked loud enough to wake the dead.

Reiko chuckled. "Oh please, I'm only having a little fun with you, what mother doesn't want to play with her son?"

Jehu breathed heavily, placing a hand over his heart. Sparkle had scared the hell out of him! Especially since last week he'd tranquilized her before putting her in his car and driving her to the other side of town, hoping he'd never see her again. Unfortunately, his mother found her and brought her back home.

And now Sparkle wanted revenge.

"Normal mothers are supposed to be kind, loving, always there to offer a hug when her son needs her most."

Reiko pouted. "Are you implying I'm not normal?"

"You hung thirty-five knives in the kitchen ceiling and let one fall on me." Jehu leveled out his breathing and looked at her expectantly.

She smiled. "Ah, good times…"

He shook his head. He could only pray that Haou didn't have a psychotic side to him like his mother did. "Is dad home?"

"Yep. Better get him now, before he goes to sleep, or runs off somewhere."

Jehu didn't need to be told twice and walked to his father's room.

"Dad?"

"What?" came Vergil's muffled voice.

"Can I talk to you?"

"No."

Jehu's eye twitched. Sometimes he wondered who he got the attitude from. "Well I don't care, I'm still coming in."

He opened the door and found his father sitting at his desk with a stack of papers in front of him. "What?"

Jehu took a moment to remember the last time his father brought this much work home. He wondered if the increase in work had anything to do with lacking a good personal assistant. He thought better of mentioning that. "Why don't you let me date Haou?"

"You're eighteen. I don't care what you do."

Vergil's words didn't phase his son; he was used to living in an eccentric environment where words of affection hardly surfaced, even with him.

Jehu pulled up a seat in front of him, noticing his father had yet to look up at him. "Want to at least tell me why you're so against me dating Haou?"

"No."

Jehu looked around the room, knowing this conversation would probably go well into the night. He just needed to start it.

"Are you a homophobe?"

"No." He signed some papers and removed them from the stack.

"Are you disappointed in me?"

"No."

Jehu felt a small weight lifted off his shoulders. At least that was a good thing. "Then?"

Vergil didn't answer.

The bluenette sighed. "I hope Haou is having an easier time with Isamu…"

Vergil looked up at him from his paperwork. "What?"

His son raised a brow. "What? Oh, Haou's talking to his father about this too. You two are too damn stubborn for your own good."

Vergil put his pen down. "Do you want to know something?"

Jehu gave him all his attention.

"I don't care who your soul mate is."

"Then what the hell, dad?"

Black eyes narrowed. Amber challenged him back.

Vergil reluctantly let that slide. "This goes back before you were born."

"You were dating him, weren't you?"

Both ignored the dent Vergil made in the desk when he slammed his fist down on it. "No."

"Well?"

_He has his mother's persistency._

He stared at his son, thinking. "Fine. To tell you the truth, Isamu and I used to be best friends in high school."

* * *

**Monkey: Nobody kill**** me for ending with another cliffy n.n;**

**And so, the next chapter will have everything unveiled, from Edo's crush to the truth behind Vergil and Isamu's hatred, and no, no matter how much it seems like it, they never dated. Lol. **

**Maybe I can update again before the end of winter break, but I can't promise anything :O**

**Hope you guys liked it (hope I still have readers for this story ñ.n;)**


	13. Revelation

**Monkey: ... I really don't have an excuse. Things just went from bad to worse in my life and I stopped writing fanfiction. **

**But a part of me wanted to continue this fic, so if I still have any readers, I'm sorry for the long wait, but I hope you guys like the chapter, I hope it will clear things up.**

* * *

"Yo, Verg! What'd you get on that test we took in physics?" A young brunette with bright green eyes called out loudly as he ran down the hall to meet up with his best friend.

Said friend put a couple books away at his locker and turned to face his friend. "An A, of course."

Isamu pouted. He completely ignored the tone Vergil used, already knowing that his slightly arrogant tone was just how he always was. "Jerk. You told me you didn't study." He crossed his arms over his chest and looked up at the slightly taller male.

Vergil smirked as he closed the locker. "I didn't."

The brunette shook his head. "I need your brain, wanna lend it to me?"

The raven haired teen with equally black eyes laughed. "No shot."

The bell rang signaling the start of lunch and Isamu's face brightened. "Yes! Lunch time! Let's go before the lines get too long!" Isamu began racing in the direction of the cafeteria as Vergil followed at a calmer pace. The latter didn't really like cafeteria food so he was in no rush to get there. Though that didn't last too long as Isamu came back, took a hold of Vergil's sleeve, and dragged him along despite his feeble protests.

They were best friends. They'd known each other since early middle school and despite all their differences, they managed to get along really well and thought they would continue to do so for a long time. They actually met in detention, and while that had been a bit of a rocky beginning to their friendship, it all worked out.

After Isamu had gotten an insane amount of food for himself while Vergil got half as much as him, the two went to sit on the edge of the stairs by the cafeteria.

It was more peaceful out there than inside that hellhole filled with stupid people, in Vergil's opinion.

So he was a cynic, sue him.

The brunette paused in between inhaling his food as he spoke to his friend. "So my dad's been on my case to start applying to colleges all over. Have you already started?"

Vergil drank his water and nodded. "I've narrowed down my search to three schools in the area."

"Have you thought about your major? It's the only thing I know I'm doing." He chuckled sheepishly.

"Business."

Isamu grinned. "Me too! Can you imagine if we end up working together? That'd be so cool!"

Vergil rolled his eyes playfully. "Yes, because after seeing you every day for the last six years of my life, I look forward to working with you."

His friend knew he wasn't being rude, just messing around. "No but seriously, you and I, we're going to stick together right? No matter what?" It was one of the rare moments Isama became serious. Vergil thought this over.

They had been through some tough times together and they were each other's only true friend. All the other so-called "friends" they had were surely going to disappear from their lives the moment they graduated.

"Of course," Vergil may not be a man of many words, but he would do his best to be a good friend to Isamu. He poked at the spaghetti on his plate in mild disgust and quirked a brow at seeing the brunette eat it contently. "How can you eat this stuff? It's disgusting."

"It's better than my mom's cooking," Isamu deadpanned. He glanced at Vergil's plate and looked longingly at the food. This is what happens whenever his mother was out trying new recipes and Isamu avoided eating them because he didn't want to suffer from food poisoning again. "… You gonna eat that?"

This was normal. "Knock yourself out." He gave him his plate and went about to eating the apple he chose for his snack. Isamu had a chocolate chip cookie on his plate and while he was busy eating the spaghetti, Vergil reached over and broke the cookie in half. "Do you mind?"

Isamu gave him the thumbs up since he couldn't speak at the moment.

Yes, they had a bit of an odd friendship, but they were grateful for it. Isamu had a reputation of being really hyper and random and some people just weren't all that comfortable with him because they considered him annoying. Vergil on the other hand was known for being incredibly stoic and somewhat scary. Whenever people approached him, they regretted it because of his apathetic nature. Isamu however, didn't care of his intimidating glare and harsh words at first and persisted until before either knew it, they were friends.

Unfortunately, being only seniors in high school, they had never had their friendship tested before. They never fought over the same girl—Isamu didn't have much luck with the girls and Vergil seemed to be asexual—they never fought over the same position in a sport since Isamu was a swimmer while Vergil played soccer and they just never fought over anything.

It wasn't until they started their post-secondary school that things went south.

Honestly Vergil couldn't say he was surprised when both he and Isamu ended up going to the same university. That school had a great business program and it was in-state for them, so it came less expensive than some other business program out-of-state.

The two started distancing a bit because of their different schedules, but they still found time to hang out over the weekends and later in their college lives, get together at bars to celebrate surviving the week or their exams with a couple of drinks.

Neither really noticed that they gradually saw less and less of each other. A phone call here, a meet up there, but it wasn't the same as before. They couldn't help it, their major was demanding and they were serious about pursuing this career.

Isamu called it luck when he and Vergil landed a job working for the same company soon after they graduated.

During their college years, they met different people and while they didn't find anyone else they could consider their best friend, they found themselves gravitating around the other people they were meeting. Landing internships at different places also prevented them from hanging out.

It wasn't until they had already been working at their company that things started to get a little shaky.

The bastard head of the company (no one liked him, but no one had the guts to say it to his face), saw the potential both Isamu and Vergil had, but wanted to mess with them.

"Andersen," he called out one day, seeing the raven walk by his office with a large stack of papers.

"Yes?"

The bastard came up to him and put a hand on Vergil's shoulder. "Kid, you've got what it takes to succeed in this lifestyle, do you know that?"

Vergil cocked a brow. He didn't appreciate being called "kid" but there wasn't a thing he could do about it, at least, for now…

The bastard (honestly, both Isamu and Vergil chose to permanently forget his name and just called him whatever insult they felt like at the time) chuckled. "I've seen you and the other one, Yuki, you both have been trying hard to climb up the ranks of this business."

Vergil chose to stay silent. He had a bad feeling about where this bastard was going with this.

"Anyway, you both have come so far, but you and I both know that Yuki just isn't cut out for this line of work. That kid is too nice and to be a leader in this field, well you can't be nice, you have to be ruthless."

Vergil opened his mouth to defend his friend, because even after all this time, they were still close, but before he could speak, the bastard waved his hand.

"Andersen, I want to offer you the position of being head of this business. I am looking for an early retirement and figured this would be perfect." He laughed. "Can't wait to see the look on the faces of all those kiss-asses I have. That will show them."

The raven stood there, stunned, as the bastard patted him on the shoulder, congratulating him. Was he really just offered the highest position in the corporation? But what about Isamu?

He didn't have what it takes? That wasn't true. That wasn't true _at all_.

"But Isamu—"

"Relax kid, I'll break the news to him. I'll probably just fire him on the spot to get it over with quicker." With a cocky smirk, the bastard went on his merry way, leaving Vergil alone with the stack of papers still in his hands.

All this time, and now he was finally getting his chance.

But he couldn't do this to Isamu!

He didn't deserve to let his hard work go to waste, not after all these years!

Snapping out of his reverie, he took off in a random direction, nearly slamming into a small secretary and giving her his papers while he went in search of his friend.

Isamu on the other hand was happily eating in the cafeteria. He only had a ten minute break to eat because he had so much work to do, but he was going to enjoy his food, his work be damned.

He had been working hard for a long time now, and there were rumors that the bastard running this company was going to retire soon. That meant people were going to start rising in the ranks again. He hoped he had a chance to rise as well.

_I bet Verg will rise too. He's so dedicated, I don't think he even eats here._ He smiled as he thought about his old friend while taking a bite of a ham sandwich. _It's been so long since we hung out, one of these days I'm gonna ask him out for a drink if we're not too busy._

He drank some water and quickly tried eating the rest of his sandwich since he only had a couple minutes before he needed to get his ass back to work.

Nearly choking, he finished his lunch and raced back to his work.

All day, Vergil couldn't find Isamu anywhere, and for some reason, his friend's phone was off. On the plus side, it meant that bastard of their boss hadn't gotten a hold of him either.

It wasn't until the next day when the two finally saw each other.

"Hey Verg! Been a while," Isamu greeted with a smile. "How have you been?"

The raven swallowed. Had he not heard the news? The two were sitting in an office room, waiting for the bastard to make his big announcement. "Isamu—"

"Considering how rumors fly around here, I'm sure you all know what I'm going to say." The bastard began.

The other workers in the office looked at each other before giving him their undivided attention.

"I'm retiring."

No one said anything.

"And I've already chosen who will be taking my place. Not to mention, I've also decided on which people will be fired after this because they're just dead weight to this company and I don't want to see this place go to shit after I leave."

Some of the older workers who had been kissing his ass for years now, smirked as they figured they would be the new boss chosen of this corporation. They sat up a little straighter and waited for the actual news.

Vergil frowned and glanced at Isamu who looked at their boss with curiosity. He really didn't know anything.

He couldn't let him be fired.

The bastard looked around the room and smirked at the people there. "Andersen will be your new boss."

Several people froze in their seats, completely dumbfounded by what the bastard just said. _Andersen? As in, Vergil Andersen? That kid was taking the job they had spent so long trying to get? He just walked in here a couple years ago, and now he's going to be bossing them around?_

The bastard cackled at their reactions. He paid close attention to Isamu's and watched as Vergil tentatively turned to face his longtime friend who looked surprised.

"Isamu, I—"

The brunette smiled at him but didn't quite look him in the eye. Even the raven could tell it was a bit forced. "Verg, way to go, you did it!"

Before the raven could reply—he was never one to constantly talk, but he was getting tired of people always interrupting him now—the bastard spoke again.

"You're all dismissed. Starting Monday, Vergil will be the one in charge, and today, I'll go around firing some of the dead weight."

_Isamu…_

When everyone left the room, Vergil stayed behind to wait for Isamu who wasn't looking him in the eye.

"Isamu, we need to talk."

The brunette looked at his watch. "I would love to, but it's lunchtime and you know how important that is to me." He turned to walk away but Vergil reached out and took a hold of his wrist.

"Wait."

Isamu stayed. "… What?"

"I know how hard you've worked all this time, and I hope you're not mad at me for this, it wasn't my fault."

"I know. I'm not mad."

"Then why won't you look at me?"

Isamu shook his head and pulled his hand away from Vergil's grasp. "I gotta go."

He walked away and Vergil didn't try to stop him. What could he do? That bastard was going to fire his friend—it wasn't like he could offer Isamu a job or anything.

He paused.

That's exactly what he would do.

Isamu wasn't going to like it, but he wanted to help somehow.

Later that afternoon, the bastard went around firing people, cackling as he did so. He was honestly doing all this just for shits and giggles, like a true bastard.

He got to Isamu before Vergil had a chance to.

But while Isamu was trying to get all of his things together, Vergil went to talk to him and offered him a job as his personal assistant. It made sense to Vergil at the time—Isamu would stay in the business, he wouldn't have as much to do as the other workers and he could work to rise in the ranks again.

Unfortunately, that didn't happen.

Over the years, Isamu grew resentful. He and Vergil started arguing more in a week than they ever had in their whole time as friends.

It was only work with them, after a while. They couldn't smile and tell each other jokes, they couldn't get along long enough to tell the other how much they missed their friendship.

It didn't help matters when Isamu started dating this secretary in their building that only had eyes for Vergil and was willing to use the brunette to get to him. She was a slut, Vergil tried telling Isamu that, but the brunette wouldn't listen until he found them one day with his girlfriend trying to shove her tongue down his boss' throat.

Isamu didn't even believe Vergil when he tried explaining that she came onto him and he had no interest in her.

His assistant took a week off after that incident.

Things just got progressively worse over the years.

No one understood why Isamu didn't just quit or why Vergil wouldn't simply fire him.

Most figured it was just them being masochistic.

It spiraled out of control when the party happened, the same party that now lived in infamy in the memory of those two.

Everyone was drinking and everyone was talking to each other. Vergil wanted to try to make amends with Isamu and went to give him a drink, but unknowingly gave him a cup that had been previously spiked with a strong drug.

Things got a little worse, much to Vergil's surprise and since he was the one who had drunk the least amount of alcohol, he made it his duty to take Isamu home.

They made it to Isamu's front door, and while the brunette was horribly drugged, he managed to string along some words that Vergil has never forgotten.

"Vergil, you have always been the only friend I've ever had, and I'll cherish that, but after all that has happened recently, I just don't know if you consider me that same friend as before. I will still work for you until maybe one day I can rise in the ranks as well, but our relationship will be strictly work-based. I guess I'm just not cut out for this type of world, but I think it's time I brave it on my own. Thanks for everything up until now, but I think this is where our friendship ends, so forgive me if I change as well."

Once he finished, Isamu passed out in Vergil's arms. The raven stood there, silent as he took in his friend's words.

He took in a deep breath and did one last good deed as a friend and carried Isamu inside, setting him down on his bed, before he left.

From that day forth, their relationship went to hell and they've never been able to stand each other since. Even after they got married and had sons, they just couldn't go back to how things were.

Not even after all this time.

* * *

Haou couldn't believe all he'd just heard. "Are you… serious? Dad, you two were such good friends—"

"_Were_, Haou. That was before." Isamu raked a hand through his brown hair. "We just can't get along now."

"What if you tried talking things out?"

"This late into things? After over twenty years of fighting? Haou, not everyone has a happy ending." He stared out the window, looking at the bright, full moon illuminating the sky.

Haou's golden eyes stared at him then followed his gaze out the window. He didn't know what to say.

* * *

Jehu's amber eyes were wide. "All this time then…?"

Vergil didn't look at him and instead leaned back in his chair and leaned back. "Now you see why we don't want the two of you together. Hell, we never dated, but look how much we hurt each other."

"But what if you could fix things?"

His father shook his head. "It's too late now."

* * *

Outside of both rooms, none of the boys knew their wives were eavesdropping, with sad expressions on their faces, but with a determination to help make things right.

* * *

**Monkey: Well, I'm sorry for any typos- I didn't actually go over this since it's getting pretty late and I just wanted to upload this already- but thank you for reading, those of you who did. I promise I'm going to finish this fanfic. There's still a few chapters left, but it's been a while, so if anyone has something they'd like to see in this fic, let me know.**


End file.
